Grant driven to keep forcing turnovers
Richie Grant lists his goals in a notebook and it features a lot of things the UCF redshirt sophomore safety wants to accomplish.
Some of them might be farfetched ideas, but not to Grant. He knows what he wants and he’s willing to do whatever it takes.
Grant, who has an interception during each of the Knights’ first two games this season, expects to keep racking up big plays.
“[I’ve] got it written down in my notebook,” Grant said. “I want a turnover every game. I need to do that for my team and also, selfishly, a little bit for my self. But I want a turnover every game. I don’t care if it’s a pick. I don’t care if it’s a forced fumble. It doesn’t matter to me. I just want to create turnovers for my team.”
Yes, his goals are difficult to achieve, but to him, they are attainable.
Grant knows there are certain standards he would like to hold himself up to having grown up playing football in Fort Walton Beach. That’s Danny Wuerffel Country to most people who know football in Florida, and Grant is well aware of the former Gator star’s legacy.
“Danny Wuerffel was a big part of Fort Walton Beach. He had a high school championship and then he went on to Florida and did other big things. … He’s really big in that area,” Grant said. “One of my goals as a kid growing up … I said, ‘One day I want to be as big as that.’
“Not just on the field, though — as a person and in my community.”
He’s certainly doing things right on the field. He broke into
the starting lineup this season and was making it hard on former UCF safety Tre Neal to keep his No. 1 strong safety spot, which is why many figure Neal decided to transfer to Nebraska.
During the first two games, Grant has certainly not disappointed the UCF coaching staff. He leads the team in interceptions and he also has a fumble recovery. Grant also is third in tackles for UCF with 13.
New Knights coach Josh Heupel and his staff have stressed the importance of forcing turnovers, inspiring Grant and his fellow defensive backs.
“The coaches are pushing us in practice,” fellow UCF defensive back Kyle Gibson said. “They have on the board [and] put up a play whenever someone makes a turnover. It’s like positive energy around the teammates. You want make a play, you want to get on the board, you try to make a play in practice. So that practice just turns into the game.”
Grant has already come a long way from his time at Choctawhatchee High, where few people knew about him. He was initially offered a UCF scholarship by the former coaching staff under George O’Leary when he was a junior in high school, and then Scott Frost came on board and confirmed the offer.
Grant had a handful of offers from smaller schools, but UCF was the most appealing and the Knights paid plenty of attention to him, which finally won him over.
“I got the offer from O’Leary’s staff and they made it clear right away that I was going to be a player here and they wanted me,” Grant said. “Then with all the coaches leaving and all that stuff, it was kind of up in the air where I was going to go. … Frost got here and I think like the second day, he ended up calling me … telling me he watched my film, thought I was a good player and that I would be a good fit in this program. Both staffs really [saw] something in me and I wanted to show everybody else that they weren’t picking wrong.”
He’s pretty much proven that already and expects to accomplish bigger goals in the future.
Grant says what keeps him grounded and focused on the task is his hard work and mental preparation. He’s even been razzed a bit by teammates, who call him a ball hog.
“They can call me whatever you want. I’m just a whole lot of hard work,” Grant said. “I’ve been on this journey a long time and it’s finally paying off.”
And perhaps one day Fort Walton Beach will be as synonymous with Richie Grant as it is now with Danny Wuerffel.
“That’s the goal. That’s the plan,” Grant said. “Not in a big-headed way, but I really do want to be a big part of my community.
“I want to be able to be successful so I can give back because I know when I was growing up, a lot of people were giving back to me and that’s how I made it this far.”