Bobby Knight, the great college basketball coach, told me once that when he was recruiting, he not only is looking for great athletes but athletes who have been winners.
Well, if you were a coach looking for a winner, you wouldn't pass up Ryan Grant, now a Gophers linebacker. He played linebacker and defensive back at Eden Prairie High School before going 27-0 as the starting quarterback as a junior and senior, leading the Eagles to Class 5A state titles in 2006 and '07.
Grant, the son of Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant and grandson of former Vikings coach Bud Grant, is battling for a starting middle linebacker position with the Gophers this spring.
Ryan has been around football all his life. He said he rarely got advice from his grandfather about how he was playing, but he did learn other lessons.
"What I learned most from him [about football] was the stories he would tell about the great players he had coached and played with, and just the traits and characteristics that those players had," Ryan said. "I tried to act like them, because he said this is why they were great. So if I wanted to be good, too, I should play like them."
Great playing for dad Ryan said it was really enjoyable to spend time every day at practice with his dad. And to be a quarterback with your dad calling the plays was also unique.
"We got along really well on the field," Ryan said. "Just honestly looking back [it was] one of the most special times in my life, just to be able to play football with your dad. We were successful and it was a great time. It's something I'll treasure forever."
In Ryan's senior year, his brother Taylor, now a redshirt freshman wide receiver at North Dakota State, was also on the team.