Dukes Targeting Another Prospect With Close Ties

Devin Grant has the benefit of having an uncle who experienced not long ago what he’s going through now.

“With the recruiting process, he told me, ‘Don’t get complacent and keep working,’” the Holy Cross (Flushing, N.Y.) safety said. “He, of course, told me he’s proud of me, but said schools will keep coming and as offers come, more and more schools at that level or even higher up will get your attention.”

The 6-foot-4, 180-pound defensive back is a prospect in the class of 2022, and he is the nephew of James Madison alum and current Detroit Lions safety Dean Marlowe.

The Dukes offered Grant a scholarship this past Friday, he said, as they became the first college program outside of the state of New York to extend an opportunity to Grant. He said he holds other offers from FBS Army and Buffalo as well as FCS Stony Brook and Fordham.

“I’m lengthy and have great ball skills,” Grant said. “I can come down and make a tackle, but a lot of schools want length in their secondary, which I’m blessed to have. And with my height and weight, a lot of guys can’t keep the speed that I have and that’s one thing I can say I bring to the field that most coaches like.”

This summer, Grant is doing everything he can to get his name out there on the heels of his truncated – due to coronavirus – junior season. Holy Cross, where Marlowe also starred as a high school standout, played only four games during the spring.

So, Grant and his parents, mom Stephanie and dad James, who Grant said he’s very thankful for, have been traveling to different campuses in order for him to participate in one-day camps and make unofficial visits. He said he’s already made stops at Clemson, Penn State, Rutgers, and South Carolina, and has plans to see Wagner and JMU, a place very familiar to him, come July.

“I’ve been countless times,” Grant said. “I always went to Dean’s games, a majority of games for the five years he was there, but I’m definitely planning in July to go to a camp and see the campus. I know it’s probably changed a lot since it’s been some time since he was there. I want to see it for myself and see the coaching staff and get familiar with it again.”

He said Marlowe, who was a four-time All-CAA selection and recorded 12 interceptions to go along with 326 tackles during his time with the Dukes, was thrilled to learn Grant earned an offer from JMU.

“He was very excited,” Grant said. “He said, ‘I’m glad you got it, but I want you to build your own path and don’t only go there because of me. Think about what’s best for your decision.’”

Grant said he has a strong bond with Marlowe. This past season all of Grant’s games were streamed online and Marlowe was able to watch, according to Grant, which meant phone calls of feedback afterward.

“I do look up to him with him being in the NFL,” Grant said. “And it’s not that I’m trying to follow his direct footsteps, but I can pick up on the little keys that he tells me. … Like, your parents tell you always, ‘Oh you did good,’ but he’ll tell me everything I can fix and how things are going to be at the next level to progress my football career. He’ll say, ‘You could break down better here,’ or ‘You could make this tackle better, you slowed down here’ or ‘You look fatigued here.’”

He said one commonality he shares with Marlowe is that they both wanted to represent their home state well during the recruiting process and beyond. When Marlowe was coming out of Holy Cross, he was also being recruited by Syracuse, Marshall, Delaware and Maine before taking former JMU coach Mickey Matthews up on his offer.

With the current Dukes staff, safeties coach Marcus Hall-Oliver and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan are the lead recruiters on Grant, he said.

Grant plays quarterback and receiver for Holy Cross, too, but noted that he prefers playing defense.

“When you watch football, you expect the offense to make plays,” he said. “But I tell the coach, on the defensive side of the ball, if you get that pick six, a fumble recovery or hard hit or a big stop on third or fourth down, it brings a different adrenaline rush to the game and I love that rush.”

As of Tuesday, JMU has four commits – Grimsley (N.C.) quarterback Alonza Barnett III, Australian punter Hugo Nash and Life Christian Academy (Chester) defensive linemen Tyrique Tucker and Ike Thompson – in its 2022 class. Tucker is the younger brother of current JMU linebacker Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey, so if at any point Grant joins the group, he’d be the second with close ties to the program to do so.