LB Curtis Grant (National Champion)

[Taosman]

The "light" doesn't always come on at one time. Some times guys just need to "grind" their way through to being a starter.

 

[Buckskin86]

Meyer: He?s the Starting Middle Linebacker
By Brandon Castel

COLUMBUS, Ohio ? Last spring, Urban Meyer anointed Curtis Grant as one player who had to make it if the Buckeyes were going to be a good defensive football team.

He didn?t, and they weren?t, at least not for the first half of the 2012 football season. Now it appears Grant, the kid who was once considered a can?t-miss linebacker recruit out of Virginia, might be on the verge of solidifying one of the most significant soft spots on the Ohio State defense.

?He?s the starting middle linebacker,? Meyer said after practice Wednesday.

?I can say that as of right now.?

cont...

http://www.the-ozone.net/football/2013/SpringFootball/GramtComingOn.html

 

[jlb1705]

I don't know. Meyer has always kind of handled Grant with kid glove, careful to never be too critical, lest he destroy his confidence. I wouldn't put too much stock his Urban's praise until I see it on the field.

I think that's true to an extent, but even in Grant's case I don't know Coach Meyer to say anything that's untrue about a player's performance. How many times in the past year-plus did we see him defer to Coach Fickell whenever the subject of Curtis Grant came up... as if he'd rather not speak than say something about him he didn't believe to be true? The statement I saw wasn't Coach Meyer trying to avoid saying something negative - he went out of his way to say something positive. I think that's encouraging.

 

[maximumblitz]

I don't know. Meyer has always kind of handled Grant with kid glove, careful to never be too critical, lest he destroy his confidence. I wouldn't put too much stock his Urban's praise until I see it on the field.

The Mantra this year is "Truth". Maybe it is actually true that he was not that engaged last year (as per Urban's recent interview over in the Urban Meyer thread), less engaged than his fans?

 

[MaxBuck]

Arthur Brown, recruit extraordinaire, was essentially a cipher through his first two years at Miami. His performance, or lack thereof, was a far greater disappointment than Curtis's has been. Brown transferred to play LB at K-State, and now he's projected as a possible first-rounder. Was Big 12 defensive POY.

It can happen.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

Arthur Brown, recruit extraordinaire, was essentially a cipher through his first two years at Miami. His performance, or lack thereof, was a far greater disappointment than Curtis's has been. Brown transferred to play LB at K-State, and now he's projected as a possible first-rounder. Was Big 12 defensive POY.

It can happen.

For the record....

In 2008, Arthur Brown was a Rivals 5*, #23 prospect overall; and a Scout 5*, #5 prospect overall.

In 2011, Curtis Grant was a Rivals 5*, #2 prospect overall; and a Scout 5*, #19 prospect overall.

Arthur Brown had 17 tackles in two years at Miami.

Curtis Grant has 10 tackles in two years at Ohio State.

It's hard to conclude from the above that "[Brown's] performance, or lack thereof, was a far greater disappointment than Curtis's has been." Both kids were highly-rated recruits (Grant slightly higher) who did essentially nothing on the field during their first two seasons (Grant slightly less).

Grant will certainly have his chance in 2013, and he still has time to turn his career around. But not much time, especially with Urban Meyer running the show.

 

[MaxBuck]

It's hard to conclude from the above that "Brown's] performance, or lack thereof, was a far greater disappointment than Curtis's has been."

Assuming one only looks at statistics, I can see how one would come to this conclusion.

My point remains -- it's not unprecedented for a player to exhibit tremendous improvement in year 3. I'm certain we all hope this will be the case for Curtis Grant.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

Assuming one only looks at statistics, I can see how one would come to this conclusion.

I'm not sure what other objective criteria, besides statistics, you would like to consider.

I have watched every game in which Curtis has played. I'm also not sure what subjective criteria you would like to consider.

 

[MaxBuck]

I'm not sure what other objective criteria, besides statistics, you would like to consider.

I have watched every game in which Curtis has played. I'm also not sure what subjective criteria you would like to consider.

I'm not sure why you're continuing to argue about a fragment of a comment I made, but this is the last I'm going to post about it. Once again, I know we all are looking forward to seeing the kind of progress from Curtis that other players (example Arthur Brown) have demonstrated. I'm sure he is, too.

:osu:

 

[southcampus]

Really pulling for Curtis. I think he's handled this situation, which surely has been one of the tougher challenges in his life, with the utmost amount of class. He's got the physical attributes, he's just got to put it all together and be a player. Would love to see him earn that starting job and flourish.

 

[k2onprimetime]

There's no doubt Curtis has the ability to be a good Linebacker here. Its not that he cant hunt down the ball carrier, its the fact that he still has to go out there and think about everything he does, and that will slow him down. If he finally understands the scheme and playbook, he will be a beast.

Even if he is the starting MIKE, he still probably wont play that much. We have the Star on the field around 80% of the time. With Shazier and either Perry or Perkins at the other LBer spot. Curtis will be needed against power teams like Wisconsin, TTUN, etc.

 

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State football's Curtis Grant blossoming in spring
By Daniel Rogers
[email protected]
Published: Sunday, April 21, 2013

Andrew Holleran / Photo editor

OSU junior linebacker Curtis Grant stands in between plays during the Spring Game on April 13 at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. The Scarlet team won, 31-14.

Coming out of last season?s spring practices, junior linebacker Curtis Grant was tapped as the Ohio State football team?s starter at middle linebacker.

Three disappointing games into the season, Grant was relegated to the bench and found himself in the shadows of junior Ryan Shazier and, later in the season, converted fullback-turned-linebacker Zach Boren.

After not recording a tackle since Week 6 of the 2012 season ? and completely missing out on the final two games ? one of the big questions heading into this spring was if Grant was ready to make the jump back into the starting lineup.

An eight-tackle performance for the Gray team in the Buckeyes? annual Spring Game and a strong performance during spring practices might just have been the final push Grant needed to make his way back to the top of the depth chart.

OSU defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Luke Fickell has watched Grant mature this spring and noticed the re-emergence of his passion for the game.

?You saw him love to play the game, you saw his passion and energy,? Fickell said Thursday during interviews with the media. ?For all the things that he needs to work on when he?s on the field and he?s playing like that with that passion and energy, those things shine above the things that he really needs to work on.?

Co-defensive coordinator Everett Withers said he thought Grant?s effort has been one of the highlights for the defense this spring.

?A guy that I?ve been really pleased with in the front seven is Curtis Grant,? Withers said Thursday. ?Curtis, to me, had a productive spring, got better at a lot of things.?

cont...

http://www.thelantern.com/sports/oh...t-blossoming-in-spring-1.3032489#.UXUj98qxu3M

 

[OSUK]

It's really hard to tell because Curtis may have been limited by what the offense was doing and what the defensive calls were. He had good stats for the spring game. What? 10 tackles? Most of which were 10 yards down the field. He had some good hits, but I didn't see him altering the game, limiting what the offense could do, making game-changing plays. Ohio State has a history of having guys at the MLB position who do those 3 things. Grant has proved that he can man the position and make tackles downfield. I want more - and I expect that if Mike Mitchell can do those 3 things - even if he doesn't always know how to line up - we won't see much of Grant this fall.

 

[buchtelgrad04]

Sheesh.

No recruit will ever live up to the absurd expectations of some fans. He's a true junior, any significant contribution before this point, at one time, was considered icing on the cake.

 

[Bill Lucas]

I want more - and I expect that if Mike Mitchell can do those 3 things - even if he doesn't always know how to line up - we won't see much of Grant this fall.

Wow. Just wow.