On Thursday April 24th, Kenneth Grant made Merrillville High School history by getting drafted as the 13th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.
“Kenneth has figured out the most simple thing that most people make really difficult. He LISTENS! He did the things we asked him to do in HS. He listened to his coaches at Michigan and I expect him to do the same now. His parents laid a phenomenal foundation for him and he’s surrounded himself with the right people,” MHS Head Football Coach Brad Seiss said.
Coach Seiss credits Kenneth’s ability to work hard, listen, and impact the game however he can. He was given great attributes when he first started playing and he has only boosted them and made him a much better player.
“Kenneth has a great combination of physical attributes and character attributes that have given him the ability to get to this point. He was blessed with great size, strength, arm length, and athletic ability which gives him the tools to do it on the field. The difference for him compared to most is he adds a great work ethic, desire to get better on top of the great physical tools. Kenneth takes coaching very well so when you put all those together it is why he’s gotten to this point,” Coach Seiss said.
Making it to the Draft was a long and difficult process though. It came with many obstacles and a lot of hard work to get to that point.
“There were two big questions with Kenneth. The first was if he’d be able to maintain a good weight to be able to have the stamina to play plenty of plays,” Seiss said. “The COVID pandemic hit during his sophomore season so unfortunately he went through one-third of a year where working out, practice were tough so Kenneth did put on more weight than he needed to. We knew though if we could get him to a major college that had a team dedicated to nutrition and put that together with an elite strength and conditioning program that he would thrive and he did. The other question many had was how flexible could he be on defense.”
When he got drafted a few people were surprised with how high he went, but Coach Seiss wasn’t shocked at all.
“His agent was telling him 11-22 was his expectation. There is such a premium on DL play so it wasn’t a surprise. It’s really cool that he was able to get where he wanted to go. In the pre-draft process he visited Dallas, Arizona, and several other places including Miami. He was hoping they’d draft him,” Coach Seiss said.
