4 8 - Tuesday, September 22, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com From factory to football, Grady stays humble 4 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- 4 4 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. I I 4 I Public Education to the.Highest Degree Highly regarded doctoral programs The Graduate Center is the principal Ph.D.-granting institution of the City University of New York. Many of the Graduate Center's more than thirty doctoral programs are regularly ranked among the best in the country. Renowned teacher-scholars Over the last decade, the Graduate Center has added dozens of world-class scholars to its already eminent faculty roster. Five faculty members were awarded Guggenheim Fellowships this year alone. 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