Really good read about something at UND rather than the stupid nickname. I remember the Grady twins at State Boys in Forks, lost in OT to Rugby on some pretty terrible late calls in the first round.
UND offensive coordinator Paul Rudolph was watching 9-man football in tiny Towner, N.D., last fall scouting New Town offensive lineman Elijah Grady.
At halftime, Rudolph made a trip to the concession stand and struck up a conversation before the second-half kickoff.
“Well, let’s see if they kick to the big guy,” Rudolph said.
Sure enough, his 6-foot-5, 295-pound recruit took the second-half kickoff more than 70 yards for a touchdown.
“He outran that entire Towner team,” Rudolph said.
Grady was UND’s hidden gem, tucked back on the Fort Berthold Reservation and playing for a struggling program.
A Native American, Grady played for a New Town team that struggled to find nine guys to play every week and he thinks the school won three or four games in his four years. New Town didn’t win any games his first two years in the program, he said.
One year later, Grady is now the starting right tackle on a 6-4 UND team that needs a win at Cal Poly on Saturday night to be considered for the FCS playoffs.
“It’s cool to be on a winning team and have a shot at the playoffs,” Grady said. “I’ve never even played football in November.”
UND pulled the redshirt on Grady in Week 4 against UC Davis. He earned his first career start against Weber State and has been a fixture on the right side as UND has churned out more than 400 rushing yards in back-to-back games.
The UND staff first heard of Grady through New Town’s trip to the 2014 North Dakota state Class B basketball tournament, where the team played at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks.
New Town’s team hosts raved to UND coaches about the character of Elijah and his twin brother, Darryl.
Elijah, who said he doesn’t have much of a recruiting story, went to two college football camps during high school, one at the University of Mary in Bismarck and the other at UND.
UND quickly offered Grady, who accepted the scholarship. His dad is a UND alum and both of his parents teach at New Town..
After the verbal commitment, UND hoped the buzz on Grady didn’t grow. They knew they had found a diamond in the rough.
“There was a lot of that,” Rudolph said. “We wanted to keep him hidden.”
Before college football signing day in February, Rudolph asked Grady for a highlight film.
Grady asked New Town coach Mike Montgomery, who threw together a few clips.
Those highlights of a large Grady bulldozing through small-town North Dakota kids with size and athleticism drew national recognition. It was both impressive and humorous.
“It’s a good deal we didn’t ask Montgomery to put that highlight together before signing day,” Rudolph said.
“I actually didn’t expect to have a highlight tape,” Grady said. “Rudy wanted one for the grand showing, so my coach threw one together. One day, I see it had 10 views, then 5,000. It was crazy. A lot of people back home thought it was cool.”
Grady said he was surprised to see national outlets, such as deadspin.com, pick up his highlight tape.
“My twin brother and I were used to dominating the field,” Grady said. “We had a lot of highlights that weren’t on the highlight tape. We just put a few on there.”
The fact that Grady is the only Division I athlete to come out of New Town isn’t lost on the UND rookie.
“I have kids back home who come up and give me hugs and ask me questions; I feel like a leader,” Grady said. “The reservation is rough. The kids hardly graduate back home. I want to be that light. I want them to know it doesn’t matter where you come from.
“I always wanted to play against Montana State, and I started against them. Hey, I started in Montana. Those are big deals, especially for small-town kids.”
With only a handful of games under his belt at the college level, Rudolph said Grady has a bright future.
“The sky is the limit for him,” Rudolph said. “He’s still a young guy when it comes to strength. He has oodles of potential yet. He’s still getting comfortable. In 9-man, there aren’t line calls. I think he walked up to the line, said I’m going to block those two and then wipe them out.”