Kenneth Grant ready to put advice from Mazi Smith into action
Michigan football has a Mazi Smith-sized hole to fill in the middle of its defense this year. The nose tackle spot has plenty of contenders to fill it, but nobody on the roster might be more tailor-made to do so than sophomore defensive tackle Kenneth Grant.
Grant stands at 6-foot-3, 345 pounds and moves like a man much lighter than he is. Michigan has a freakish ball of clay to mold and develop just as it had in Smith, who became a first-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Now for Grant, it is all about continuing to take steps forward in an expanded role.
Smith’s bread and butter was stopping the run, which is something he attempted to pass down to his successors. Grant is ready to take the baton and go from there.
“He’s definitely a great run-stopper,” Grant told The Wolverine recently from Will Johnson’s camp at Wayne State in June. “You pick up a lot of good tips and traits, like down and distance and all those types of things. Just slow down the game and make you pay attention to what situation you’re in. Just right there.
“[Mazi] just said, ‘Destroy the man first and worry about making the play later.’ Because if you destroy the man first, your teammates will have a better opportunity to get to the man instead of you just looking to make a play.”
Playing defensive tackle, especially the nose tackle spot, means doing a lot of the dirty work that might not show up in a box score. Grant is ready to take on that mantle for Michigan.
“I take good pride in that,” Grant said. “Somebody has to do the nitty gritty stuff. So somebody has to learn to love it to make the team successful and make the whole defense successful as a whole to get to where we want to go to. Somebody has to step in and take that role.”
Being the Hulkish athlete that Grant is, he knows that he will draw plenty of attention on the field. He wants it, whether he records something that goes into the stat book or not.
“It’s kind of disrespectful when they don’t double you,” Grant said. “It’s just like, why wouldn’t you double the biggest person on the field? Then also it’s a part of embracing it. It’s keeping your linebackers free. That’s the whole part of it. Just keep linebackers free so they can make plays and you can get off the field.”
Grant appeared in all 14 games as a true freshman at Michigan and made eight total tackles. He was a four-star recruit and the No. 277 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class out of Merrillville, Indiana.
Grant was No. 46 on Bruce Feldman’s “Freaks List” ahead of the 2022 season as. true freshman, a designation created to single out the most impressive athletes in college football.
