For Kansas State's Grant Gregory, Message Is Never Give Up

The message never changes, but Kansas State quarterback Grant Gregory finds a note in his inbox every week of the college football season.

"Find a way to win."

The words of encouragement find their way to Manhattan, Kan., from hundreds of miles away in Mobile, Ala., where Grant's father, Greg Gregory, is the offensive coordinator of upstart South Alabama. But even in distance, dad seems to know exactly what his son needs to hear.

"I make sure to also put in there, there is always a way," Greg Gregory said, "your job is to find it."

That Greg Gregory is even able to pass that encouragement on to his son finally is something of a major victory in itself. Grant has been searching for the opportunity to lead a team to victory his entire college career and finally this season with the Wildcats he has it.

But it only took him three FBS schools, four different head coaches and a rare sixth year of college eligibility to get to this point. Until now, Grant's career has been full of unfulfilled promises, frustrating injuries and false hope during a season stay at Indiana followed by four years at South Florida before he arrived at K-State this summer.

Perhaps the most difficult letdown came at USF three years ago when the thumb ligament tear wiped out any chance to keep the starting job. When he returned the following season, Matt Grothe was entrenched as the starter and there was no looking back.

"My career has been full of ups and downs, mostly downs, and a whole lot of injuries," said Grant, who lost major chunks of two seasons with two broken bones in his back and then a torn thumb ligament injury. "I've got to be on some really good teams, four bowl games and I've got to do a lot of things I wouldn't trade for the world."

The thing he would trade, and eventually did, was the chance to actually be out on the field leading a team to victory. After receiving word last January the NCAA had granted him a medical redshirt and a sixth year because of the substantial time missed due to injury, Grant made the decision to move on.

Initially, he was headed to FCS Eastern Kentucky where a starting job awaited him. But an innocent conversation between USF coach Jim Leavitt and his former boss Bill Snyder, who came out of retirement to reclaim control of the Wildcats last spring, led to an opportunity Grant just couldn't pass up. Snyder was looking for a quarterback that had a little bit of movement to him and Leavitt knew just the guy.

Grant had already received his bachelor's degree in under five years which meant he could transfer to another FBS school for a sixth year without having to sit out a season.

Unlike Eastern Kentucky, nothing was guaranteed at K-State other than the chance to compete for the starting job in an open competition. With all the disappointment Grant has faced, it would have been understandable if he had taken the easy way out.

"What I'm most proud of is he could have gone [FCS] and walked in as the starter Day 1, no questions asked," said Greg Gregory, who had been USF Bulls offensive coordinator last season. "But when Kansas State came up, he didn't flinch. When that came available, that's where he wanted to go. He wanted to prove he could play at the highest level."

Grant, 23, has certainly done that this season, lifting the Wildcats into an improbable first-place standing in the Big 12 North with a 5-3 overall, 3-1 league record halfway through conference play. Grant has provided energy with both his maturity and his ability to make plays with both his arm and legs.

Grant (left, with South Florida in 2008) is fifth in the Big 12 in passing efficiency in the five league games with a 129.3 rating after completing 59 of 92 passes for 644 yards and three touchdowns. In Big 12 play, he has also rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

But probably most impressive is that he's accomplished so much while still learning a system that is contrary to everything he learned as the backup at USF.

"I think Grant has good leadership capabilities, he's got the capacity for being a tough young guy," said Snyder. "He's got a little movement to him. He's still learning a new system, because he's been in the same system for four or five years. A new system takes a while to get acclimated to. He's a good effort guy.

"I think all the intrinsic values are in place. Now, it's just a matter of growing into the system."

But like most of Grant's career, the transition has been far from smooth. After arriving in late summer and missing spring ball, Grant lost out to junior Carson Coffman in the battle for the starting job heading into the season. Both got in the first couple games of the season. Neither played great.

But Grant had some of the athleticism typical of the quarterbacks Snyder favors so he eventually was awarded the starting job to begin league play against Iowa State on Oct. 3. Neither Grant nor the Wildcats have looked back since.



For Grant, it's been all that he had ever asked and hoped for as he grasped at one final playing opportunity before beginning his life of coaching. He will have a chance to lead the Wildcats in a highly anticipated and nationally televised game Saturday night at Oklahoma.

There might have been some second-guessing his decision to come to KSU earlier this year but that's over now.

"It's a BCS conference, we're playing Oklahoma (Saturday)," said Grant, who spent a season at IU under Gary DiNardo and then briefly remained when the late Terry Hoeppner took over the Hoosiers. "It's pretty hard to turn down an opportunity to play at places like that."

It's also made many of the twists and turns and disappointments all seem worth it.

"It's a pretty interesting story," said Grant, who is taking graduate school courses at K-State. "Some of the things, if I just sat down and told somebody, they probably wouldn't believe all the things that have happened to me, I've seen and experienced. College football is the greatest time in all of our lives, it's what we dreamed of doing. It's worth every second."

For Greg Gregory, it's been maybe just as gratifying to see his son finally have the opportunity for success that had been so elusive the last five seasons.

So the notes from dad will keep coming each week.

"I'm happy for him, I'm proud of him," he said. "I don't know of any football player who has worked any harder to have success and to try to be as good a football player as he can be."