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8 - Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
From factory to football, Grady stays humble
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By ANDY REID come home, go to sleep and do it all
Daily Sports Editor over again.
"It was a humbling experience,"
During a cool May day, with the he said. "To go from college, play-
evening sun hanging in the sky, ing sports, getting a rent check,
Kelvin Grady rolled over in his bed going to class, hanging out with
and shut his eyes again. your friends to reality. I was out of
Any college kid knows what it's school and I was working, working
like to not want to get up and face in a factory."
the day ahead - a boring lecture, a Grady worked on the factory
pointless pop quiz, a hangover from line for about a month, and every
a long night at Rick's, whatever the day, he questioned his decision to
case may be. leave basketball. But then another
But technically, Grady wasn't opportunity came calling. It wasn't
a college kid anymore. After the too far from the old one - after all,
Michigan basketball team's sur- Crisler Arena and Michigan Sta-
prising run to the second round of dium are neighbors.
the NCAA Tournament, the sopho- About two weeks after the Mich-
more point guard left the team, igan football team started its sum-
decided not to enroll in any spring- mer workouts, Grady received a call
term classes, went back home to from his brother, Kevin, a senior
Grand Rapids and tried to figure fullback for the Wolverines. The
out what he was going to do for the two had played football together at
rest of his life. East Grand Rapids, and Kevin tried
He settled on a night-shift job at to convince his brother to join the
an Amway factory in Ada, capping team.
bottles of lotion from 10 p.m. to 7 "He was like, 'You got the tools,"
a.m. every day. He'd get up - reluc- Grady said. " 'If you want to come,
tantly and with some occasional come in. But if you do, you need to
help from his father - go to work, be all in. You can't come out here
just to come out here. This is some-
thing serious. This is Michigan
football. This is somethingthatyou
have to really want to do."'
Grady met with Michigan coach
Rich Rodriguez and brought some
tapes from his playing days at East
Grand Rapids High School. Grady
hadn't played football since his
senioryear,butRodriguezwasopen
to the speedster's proposition.
The redshirt sophomore joined
the team shortly thereafter.
The coaching staff found a spot
for Grady at slot receiver, and he
hasimmediatelyexcelled.Although
Grady readily admits that basket-
ball is his first love, he says he's bet-
ter at football.
And it has showed. Grady quick-
ly climbed the depth chart in one
of the Wolverines' most talent-
rich positions, finding his place as
the No. 2 slot receiver. Other slot
receivers include 2009 leading
receiver Martavious Odoms, Roy
Roundtree and Terrance Robinson,
all of whom had time to study and
become comfortable with the sys-
tem last season.
With only a few weeks worth of
practice time, he played in Michi-
gan's season-opening win over
Western Michigan. So far, Grady
has caught five balls for 30 yards.
But he's been able to provide the
Wolverines with a lot more than
just on-field production.
"There's a lot of people out here
that have jobs and bust their butt
every day for every dollar that they
get," Grady said. "So now I can
respect that aspect of it, and then,
here I am again.
"Through my struggles, I am a
stronger person, and I feel like I
can put that on my teammates and
encourage them to work hard and
realize what they got and to take
advantage of everything they got.
You never know when it could be
gone."
Of course, Michigan strength
and conditioning coach Mike Bar-
wis's workouts are hard, and Grady
may not want to take that nagging
midterm.
But you'll never see him com-
plain.
After his experience at the fac-
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SAMWOLSN/Daily
Redshirt sophomore Kelvin Grady joined the football team this summer.
tory, he'll never take his opportuni- and fight through it, because I've
ties for granted. been to the bottom of the bottom
"Whenever I look down or I and now I'm back. I'm a Michigan
get tired, I'm easily encouraged Man, and this is where I'm sup-
now," Grady said. "Just to work posed to be."
FOOTBALL
Molk sidelined 4 to 6 weeks with broken bone in foot
By MICHAEL EISENSTEIN
Daily Sports Editor
Freshman quarterback Tate
Forcier's writhing on the ground
in pain may have garnered a bigger
reaction from the Michigan Sta-
dium crowd, but
redshirt sopho- NOTEBOOK
more center David
Molk suffered the most significant
injury during Saturday's win over
Eastern Michigan.
Molk broke his foot during the
game and underwent surgery Mon-
day morning, Michigan coach Rich
Rodriguez announced at his weekly
Monday press conference. The pro-
cedure will leave the only center
who has started in Rodriguez eraon
the sideline for four to six weeks.
"That's aptpughbltsw,"Rodriguez
said. "David is not just one of our
best lineman but he may be - he
is - one of our best football players,
period."
Fifth-year senior David Moos-
man will likely replace Molk at
center. Moosman sat out against
Eastern Michigan after suffering
an injury during the fourth quarter
of the Wolverines' win over Notre
Dame, but he is expected to return
this week. Moosman played all
spring and fall camp at center, leav-
ing Rodriguez "pretty comfortable"
with Moosman and his snaps.
Redshirt freshman Rocko
Khoury will also help fill in.
Molk likely suffered the injury
in the first half of the game when
he complained about soreness. He
insisted on staying in 4nd played
well in both halves, but an X-ray
after the game revealed a break.
Uzlike last aeson, the Wolver-
ines have some flexibility on the
offensive line. Redshirt junior John
Ferrara filled in at guard for Moos-
man against the Eagles, helping the
Wolverines post 380 rushing yards,
the most in one game in the Rodri-
guez era.
Rodriguez also feels confident
moving redshirt sophomore Mark
Huyge from tackle to right guard,
where Moosmanusually starts, and
playing redshirt junior Perry Dor-
restein at tackle.
"It's not exactly the ideal situ-
ation because our depth is still
with inexperienced guys, but at
least inexperienced guys that have
been in the program for a year, as
opposed to last year where some
of the depth were true freshmen,"
Rodriguez said.
Ideally, Rodriguez said he likes
to have two centers, three guards
and three tackles. As players spend,
more time in the system, they'll
learn to play multiple positions, just
as Huyge and redshirt freshman
Patrick Omameh are training at
both guard and tackle.
In the meantime, freshmen
Michael Schofield and Taylor
Lewan took second-string reps last
week to "keep them greased up" in
case the offensive line suffers more
injuries.
"It's going to take us a couple
years to really fix some of the issues
we have as far as depth, and expe-
rience, and talent and, what have
you," Rodriguez said.
SECOND-HALF STRENGTH: Much
has been made of Michigan's defen-
sive resurgence in the second half
against both Notre Dame and East-
ern Michigan.
In particular, the Wolverines
shut out the Eagles in the second
half and limited themto-Slrushing
yards after giving up 17 points and
128 yards on the ground in the first
two quarters.
Whatever the cause, it's not
because of a Vince Lombardi-esque
halftime speech.
"I think that's just a coincidence,
more than anything else," Rodri-
guez said. "There's not a whole lot
of time for big adjustments. ... But
I think our defensive staff, more
than anything, has just calmed the
guys down, tell them this is what's
happening, these are the fewthings
we're going to do to fix it."
OTHER INJURIES: Aside from
Molk's broken foot, there were not
any major injuries from Saturday.
Senior running back Brandon
Minor still has a nagging ankle
injury and will be evaluated on a
day-to-day basis. Rodriguez said
he plans to rest Minor early in the
week in hopes that his health will
improve.
"Brandon's got a great pain tol-
erance," Rodriguez said. "So he'll
go, but we've also told him he's
got to be honest with us when it is
bothering him, particularly when
it's at a point where it's bothering
him where he doesn't feel he can be
himself."
Redshirt sophomore safety Mike
Williams is also day-to-day with a
tweaked ankle.
Rodriguez added that redshirt
senior offensive lineman Tim McA-
voy could return this week after
beingoutsince springpractice.
HOMECOMING WEEKEND: In
honor of Homecoming this week-
end, there willbe a prep rally for the
football team at Crisler Arena on
Friday. Doors will open at 3:30, and
the team will arrive around 4:15.
There will be prizes and give-
aways, and buses will be provided
for students living in the residence
halls.
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