Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
How a Pair of Giants Teammates Had Their NFL Destinies Shaped in High School
It’s funny how things sometimes tend to work out.
Just ask Eden Prairie High School football coach and athletic director Mike Grant, the son of legendary Vikings head coach Bud Grant and a 43-year coaching veteran with over 350 victories and 11 state titles on his resume who counts Giants linebackers Ryan Connelly and Carter Coughlin among his former students.
Connelly, then a quarterback, and Coughlin helped Grant and the rest of the team to win the 2013 state championship.
“Connelly was amazing. He helped us complete a four-peat and was our quarterback in one of them as a sophomore. He was a pretty good player but still just an average-sized 180-pound kid,” said Grant during an exclusive phone interview.
Then there was Coughlin, who played defense for Grant but, who, the coach admitted, in retrospect wasn’t used to his strengths the way the coaching staff at Minnesota later would deploy the young man.
“We had a need at inside linebacker, so that’s where we put him,” Grant said in explaining how Coughlin came to be the team’s inside linebacker. “His strength isn’t as a fast-twitch player reading and reacting like Connelly. It’s at the second level as a pass rusher.”
But, again, it’s funny how things have a way of working themselves out, as Connelly and Coughlin would later find out.
"It’s Connelly!"
Coughlin remembers Connelly as being a gunslinger as a quarterback.
“He was a monster as a quarterback,” the Giants seventh-round draft pick said during a video conference call with reporters of his high school teammate. “He was built like a linebacker—crazy athletic and super smart.
“I still remember him standing on the 50-yard line with his feet planted and being able to throw the ball to the endzone without an issue. He had a cannon for an arm.”
So why, then, did the Eden Prairie coaching staff initiates a position switch for Connelly in his junior season?
Chalk it up to a miscommunication.
“I told one of our assistant coaches that we needed more pass rush, so I said to put another player with the last name ‘Conway’ on defense during practice,” Grant recalled. “Well, he must have misheard me because he put Connelly at defensive end by mistake.”
By the time Grant realized the mix-up, his assistant coach had told him there was no way they could take Connelly off defense because he immediately stood out as the best player on the field.
“After that, Connelly took off and started dominating on that side of the ball as a defensive end with his hand in the ground. (Connelly) and (New York Jets linebacker) Blake Cashman were the two guys that led us to our fourth straight state championship,” Grant said.
Despite Connelly’s success, he was not highly recruited by big schools. Luckily, his Grant had connections at Wisconsin, which helped put Connelly on their radar.
“I spoke to Minnesota first, but they were too concerned about his size and lack of a true position,” Grant said. “When I called up my guys at Wisconsin, I told them he’s a winner and someone who goes out there and makes plays, and they were sold. After that, Connelly was able to walk on there, and the rest is history.”
The rest was indeed history, as Connelly blossomed into a standout as the leader of Wisconsin’s defense, which helped him get drafted by the Giants in the fifth round of the 2019 draft.
Even after he was drafted by the Giants in the fifth round last year, Connelly was still overlooked by some draft analysts who questioned whether he’d be anything more than a backup and special teams player.
Grant knew better and wasn’t surprised that Connelly earned a spot on the starting lineup so early in his rookie season.
“Connelly has the smarts on the field and that fast-twitch reaction to make plays in the backfield. His instincts make him so special as a linebacker,” said Grant.
Coughlin Time!
In retrospect, Grant might have wished he had used Coughlin as more of a pass rusher, noting that the Minnesota product has natural ability as an edge rusher, great bend, and is someone can get his hands on linemen that are as much as 100 pounds heavier than him.
“There’s no doubt Coughlin can develop into that blue-chip pass rusher,” Grant said. “We saw it at Minnesota. He has the attitude and the work ethic, and he comes from the right upbringing with a great support system around him, given his family’s history playing sports at Minnesota for the Gophers.”
Grant coached Coughlin’s father and uncle, who both went on to play for Minnesota. He also currently coaches Coughlin’s two cousins, who are being heavily recruited by the Golden Gophers.
“It’s safe to say I have a long history with that family,” Grant said. “They are such great people who have those values of tradition, which is why Coughlin has the perfect personality to play football.”
Moreover, if the Giants are counting on Coughlin as well as Connelly to build a solid defense, they couldn’t have asked for two better contributors.
“Connelly and Coughlin are all tough kids with extremely high motors. They aren’t the players who you have to worry about fitting in on team or in the locker room,” Grant said.
“They are the type of guys you draft when you are trying to build a football team. If you watch them, they aren’t going to blow away scouts with their athleticism, but they are guys who go out there and make plays, which is what you want.”
“Everyone falls in love with the 40-time when it’s about making plays,” Grant added. “Those are the type of players they have.”
And speaking of the players the Giants have, Grant likes the Giants selection of Joe Judge as the team’s head coach to help mold and lead those players into becoming winners through a no-nonsense style much like former Giants head coach Tom Coughlin (no relation to Carter) and Grant’s father deployed.
They are old school coaches that command the respect of the room and their players. That’s how you build a team and win football games,” Grant said.
“My Dad was the same way. Not only was he a great coach, but he was the best phycologist, too, because he knew how to handle every personality in the locker room.”
