‘Always going to get that effort.’ Why Kenneth Grant could be a much-needed ‘culture changer’
There’s one play that ultimately stands out when you watch Kenneth Grant’s tape.
It happened in Beaver Stadium on Nov. 11, 2023. Penn State running back Kaytron Allen burst through the hole with nothing but green grass in front of him. Then, all of a sudden, you see a 6-foot-4-inch, 300-lb nose tackle begin to creep into the screen. Getting closer. And closer. And closer — until he finally drags Allen down from behind, saving a potential touchdown run.
“I give that effort every play,” the former Michigan Wolverine said Friday. “Whether I’m in there or coaching guys that’s in there, I’m always stressing run to the ball so you’re always going to get that effort out of me.”
The Miami Dolphins made Grant a first-round pick Thursday, selecting him with the 13th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. That he plays with intense effort is only part of his story; as he lists what he wants to accomplish in the league – Super Bowl champion, Walter Payton Man of the Year, etc. – it’s clear that Grant brings not only an unique combination of size and speed but also leadership traits that can make him a beloved teammate.
“One of the best guys in the league – on and off the field, to be honest,” Grant said when asked about his goals for the year. “I want to accomplish the Man of the Year Award, but I also want to accomplish winning a Super Bowl, winning all of the individual accolades for myself. But my ultimate goal is a Super Bowl, for sure.”
Added Grant: “I just want to be a good role model in my community, from where I grew up from, show those guys there’s a way out and you can make it. I’m living proof.”
Such lofty goals are by no accident. Coaches and media pundits have raved about Grant for years.
“He’s a generational talent inside,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore told Michigan Live in December. “He’s a guy that can stop the running and rush the passer, which is very hard to find with those guys inside. Plays with great leverage, great hands, great effort. An extremely smart football player. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the first pick in the draft.”
“Given his size, his strength, his speed, his quickness, his ability to change direction, the effort that he displays, I’d say [he’s] a freak,” Michigan strength and conditioning coach Justin Tress told The Michigan Daily in September. “It’s freaky to be able to do that and to do that consistently.”
“This might have been my favorite player in the whole draft,” former football coach turned media personality Jon Gruden said Thursday. “This guy comes out of the stack. You want to throw a bubble screen over there, Kenneth Grant will walk you down. He comes out of the trash, this guy plays his ass off. I love Kenneth Grant. He’s a three-technique – a guy who can play on the outside shoulder of the guard – and he can move. He’s a great football player.”
Even former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh called Grant’s chase down of Allen “one of the best plays ever” in 2023.
“It was a guardian of victory type of play,” said Harbaugh, the current coach of the Los Angeles Chargers who also previously deemed Grant “gift from the football gods.” “Kenneth was dominant in the game. He was the real tone-setter right from the first series.”
The word “tone-setter” should not be overlooked. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has talked at length about the need to change the “tonality” for the 2025 Dolphins. And he’s right: the Dolphins, unfortunately, are primarily seen as soft. That needs to change and it’s clear the franchise believes Grant can be a catalyst in that regard.
“It was important to have a tonality set for the 2025 Dolphins and adding a real presence up front and just a player that is going to attack it and try to play to the tonality that we aspire to,” McDaniel said.
So it should be no surprise that Grant even considers himself a “culture changer,” one who has won at every level he has been at. In his mind, why would that change in Miami?
“Before I went to Merrillville [High School], we were 1-9,” Grant recalled. “Then right after that, we went to four straight semi-states. Then, going to Michigan, never beating Ohio State before. Then the year before I got there, we won it and then when I got there, we carried on that legacy. So I think I’m a culture changer for a winning culture, for sure.”
And while Grant’s own mother has previously referred to him as “a gentle giant,” everything changes when he steps in between the white lines.
“Whether it’s in practice or in the game, I’m always ready to go because on the field, it’s no friends, to be honest,” Grant said. “So I mean everybody is trying to get their individual goals, so you’re not going to let another man take your goal. That’s how I think of it.”
That Grant, in his own words, won’t “let another man take” his goal is more than just football jargon; it’s how a man that weighs more than 300 lbs. can have both the ability and effort to track down a tailback.
“What I was proud of is, out of all things ability-wise, that’s purely his effort and his mindset to have to go redirect, retrace and chase down that running back,” Tress said. “That’s more so than his ability. His ability allowed him to do it. His effort is what made him do it.”
