Richie Grant Displayed How UCF Can Develop Top Athletes Into Top Football Players
UCF built up the football program by evaluating not just top targets, but truly talented athletes with their best football days ahead of them. While the new staff assembled by UCF Head Football Coach Gus Malzahn has experience recruiting top-notch talent at SEC and Big 10 schools among others, it’s still important to evaluate each prospect unconditionally so that the Knights still develop raw prospects into top talent in addition to signing top talent. That’s where a recent UCF safety comes into the discussion.
Playing along the Gulf Coast in the panhandle of Florida, Richie Grant was not going to garner the same level of attention of players from say Miami (Fla.) Central or Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian, both schools in larger metropolitan areas that attract more college coaches. What Grant did offer was something one cannot teach.
Natural Athleticism
while not yet only playing defensive back in high school, his skills allowed him to turn into a top defensive back at the college level. During Grant's high school football playing days, he was also active for the Fort Walton Beach (Fla.) Choctawhatchee track team. As a general rule, it’s a really good sign when a high school football player runs the 100 meters; Grant also participated in the 400 meter dash as well.
Why is it so important? Speed lends itself to several aspects, such as the physical and mental preparedness necessary to compete in such grueling events. Additionally, the hardest thing to do within college football recruiting is finding defensive backs that can really run. Considering today’s elite wide receivers, the more talented defensive backs UCF can jog onto the gridiron, the better.
It also helps that Grant was 6’0” when he was coming out of high school. Many elite cornerbacks are only 5’10”. Grant may not have been on the radar for a program like LSU or Ohio State, but his upside provided UCF with the perfect recruit to develop. That’s how UCF climbed the college football mountain, and it should continue to be a major part of the UCF recruiting philosophy moving forward.
Football Speed Helped Separate Grant
This is the old saying that keeps coming around. “You can’t teach speed.” It’s definitely true. Players that possess that extra gear are rare. There are different types of speed, however. Grant knew how to hit the gas and close down on a running back or close off on a pass to knock it down with not only speed, but timing and natural athleticism.
He could move well laterally as well. That’s why he was the 40th overall selection by the Falcons in the second round of the NFL Draft. It’s amazing that he ascended that high in the NFL Draft after an initial redshirt year for the Knights during the 2016 season. His speed helped him reach the UCF campus, and that speed is not just straight ahead either.
Lateral movement and quick change of direction skills were at their highest during the biggest moments of Grant’s college career. He was the definition of a true football player. He ran fast, but that was especially true when the lights shined the brightest, such as recording six interceptions as a redshirt sophomore in 2018.
True Football Players Make Plays
Whether it was returning kickoffs as a redshirt freshman, those six interceptions the very next season, as a redshirt junior accumulating 78 total tackles, and as a redshirt senior tallying three interceptions, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, Grant made plays.
That’s part of evaluating a high school prospect believe it or not. Not just the speed; did the young man make plays when turning on the high school film? That’s the bottom line. Sometimes young prospects in remote locations like Fort Walton Beach, Fla. where Grant is from get overlooked when they simply should not have.
Finding the Best Mix of Prospects With Upside Combined With Elite Prospects
For the Knights to sign and develop Grant like they did, that’s a thing of beauty. College football provides numerous stories like Grant, but it’s hard to project into the future as to which recruits will be those out-of-the-blue home run recruits. It’s rare, but again, the athleticism that’s mentioned above provides the highest chance for the Knights to succeed.
Find the talent, recruit the talent. That’s the formula. UCF cannot go off so-called recruiting site lists. No, the Knights need to evaluate their targets like nobody else even knows about any given prospect.
That’s a true evaluation, and it’s how Grant ended up a Knight. Imagine if he had not been given a chance. Would UCF have been as successful during those same four seasons (2017-2020)?
Now, the Knights certainly need to hammer out some stud recruits as well. That’s blatantly obvious. As the UCF coaching staff scours the landscape to find top talent within talent-rich Florida, Georgia and Alabama -- three states that will be mainstays for the Knights moving forward -- that same coaching staff needs to evaluate the speed and athleticism of prospects with a high ceiling like Grant.
If possible, bring those young men to a UCF camp and watch them run. From there, the evaluation can be completed further to truly come to a definitive conclusion.
Final Thoughts
UCF is going to climb the recruiting ladder into big boy territory very soon. Knights’ fans can mark that down as a fact. What they should still hope for is that UCF brings in true athletes with a high upside to develop into stars like Grant.
You will find me on Twitter @fbscout_florida and @UCF_FanNation