Updated 11/24/2022 1:00 AM

On Saturday, Jaydon Grant hopes to make his final appearance in an Oregon State uniform at Reser Stadium when the Beavers play host to Oregon in the 126th renewal of the Civil War.

It will be an emotional time for all the 11 Beaver seniors along with a few others who will head to the NFL or end their eligibility as juniors. None more so than Grant, who has become a leader among his teammates and a fan favorite for all the right reasons.

Grant suffered an internal injury in the California game on November 12 and did not make the trip with the team to Arizona State last weekend. His plan is to be in uniform Saturday at Reser Stadium.

“I believe I will be out there for the first snap,” Jaydon says. “God will be with me Saturday. It means so much to me to play this game. I know how much this one means for all of us.

“I want Beaver Nation, and anybody who bleeds orange and black, to know I will do anything it takes for this program to succeed. I care about this place. Dealing with adversity has been what my whole career has been about.”

The West Linn native and son of former Trail Blazer forward Brian Grant and fitness icon Gina Wonder is in his seventh season in the Oregon State program, including a redshirt year, a medical redshirt year and a COVID-19 year. His first season was 2016, when Gary Andersen was head coach and Cory Hall was in charge of the secondary.

The 6-foot, 195-pound senior safety has played in 55 games at Oregon State. According to OSU sports information, records aren’t kept, but it is surely the most games ever played by a Beaver football player. He has been a starter since his redshirt sophomore season in 2019, making 38 starts, including 15 consecutively, before sitting out the Beavers’ 31-7 win at Arizona State last Saturday.

There are two things that are remarkable about that.

One, Grant came to Oregon State as a walk-on. He finally received a scholarship winter term after his third season in 2019.

Two, Jaydon fought injuries through his first four years on campus.

In 2016, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during August training camp. He was a fifth string cornerback at the time.

In 2017, Grant played the first two games, then had season-ending surgery on both shoulders.

In 2018, he got through the season but battled a high ankle sprain.

During spring practice in 2019, he fractured a vertebrae diving into a steel post on a fence at the practice facility, an injury that could have resulted in paralysis. Jaydon wound up playing all 12 games that season.

Grant was selected to the 2022 preseason All-Pac-12 team and has a chance to make the season’s All-Pac-12 team that will be announced next month. He ranks third on the team with 52 tackles and also has six breakups, three interceptions, two quarterback hurries and one forced fumble despite missing the 31-7 win at Arizona State.

Jaydon is one of four players ever to serve as captain for three seasons at Oregon State. Under Smith, captains are chosen by a vote of the players. It speaks volumes about what teammates think of him.

Through his six-plus years in Corvallis, Jaydon has not been idle in the classroom. He will leave Oregon State with three degrees, including two Masters certificates.

It’s an unusual path to success, something that Grant readily acknowledges.

“I look at it as a testament to my journey,” he says. “It’s almost like I’ve had two careers. My first three years as a walk-on under Coach Andersen and Coach (Jonathan) Smith, with the three major shoulder surgeries and also the fractured T1 vertebrae in my neck.

“Then there was my second career, beginning with Coach Smith giving me an opportunity to earn playing time, then getting a scholarship and the chance to become the player I knew I could be. That’s when everything turned around for me. I couldn’t be more grateful for my time at Oregon State.”

No wonder Smith regards Jaydon as one of the favorite players he has coached through two decades in the business. No wonder Jaydon’s parents are busting their buttons.

“I couldn’t be more proud of him, the individual and human being he has become,” Brian Grant says. “He has grown up a lot. The baseline Jaydon was always there. I sit there now and watch him go from a young man to a man…  I’m impressed.”

“Jaydon has a great story to tell,” Gina Wonder says. “From walking on, earning his scholarship, going through everything he has been through that has continued to make him not only a better football player, but also a better person. I’m his biggest fan. He is an amazing young man. I’m so proud of him — who he is, what he stands for on and off the field. It’s just as important to shine off the field as on it. He has done a phenomenal job at both.”

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Jaydon is the fourth of four children born to Brian and Gina, a Portland power couple for sure. Brian was a  6-9 power forward who played three of his 12 NBA seasons in Portland and remains a very popular figure around town. Gina is a pioneer in Zumba dance who has been an instructor and forerunner in the industry since 2005. Her Facebook page has 97,000 followers.

“Mom is a rock star,” Jaydon says. “Both of my parents are. My dad is a testament to hard work. He is the most down-to-earth, humble, approachable dude I know. Him and my mom, they raised us to be good people. It seems like a fundamentally easy thing, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.”

Jaydon was seven when his father retired from the NBA in 2005.

“When he retired, my mom started doing her thing with Zumba,” he says. “For maybe five years, it seemed like she was gone every weekend, traveling around the globe (as a Zumba education specialist). Being able to witness the work ethic both of them have, that’s what resonated with me. To be good at something, to accomplish goals, you have to put real work behind it.”

Between Brian and Gina, they have nine children, including seven boys.

“We were a huge blended family,” Gina says with a laugh. “I don’t even know how to cook small dishes any more, we had to make so much.”

Jaydon was in seventh grade when his parents split up.

“That was tough on me,” he says. “It’s tough on any kid. But really, the way it worked out was amazing. I’d be with Mom one week, Dad the next. All us kids stayed connected to both sides. When my oldest brother Amani, who is not Mom’s biological son, moved back to Oregon, he would be on the same schedule as me, just to be with us and with my mom.”

Gina remarried. Husband Dahrio Wonder is a musical artist. They have one child together, five-year-old Omari.

“He is Jaydon’s biggest fan,” Gina says. “He makes us watch highlights of Jaydon every single game. He knows more about Jaydon and his game than I do. He is the one who told me the ‘C’ on Jaydon’s jersey means he’s a captain. I had no clue.”

Football wasn’t Jaydon’s sport growing up. What, you think the son of Brian Grant wasn’t going to take to basketball? He played a year off Pop Warner football in eighth grade but stuck to basketball for his first three years at West Linn High, where close friend and teammate Payton Pritchard led the Lions to four straight seasons from 2013-16. Jaydon played three years of varsity, starting his last two seasons.

Houston Lillard’s presence made the difference in getting Jaydon to the gridiron. That’s right, Damian’s older brother, who played quarterback at Southeast Missouri State and then five years of indoor pro football.

“Without Houston,” Jaydon says, “I don’t think I play football. He is like a big brother. He has helped me grow as a man. He saw something in me long before I ever did, even before I chose to walk on at Oregon State. I owe a lot to him.”

Lillard and Jaydon got together through a family connection. Jaydon started personal training with him at about age 14. Houston saw something he liked that made him think Jaydon might be training for the wrong sport.

“I would always give him a hard time,” says Lillard, 36, now coaching with “Team Lillard” in his brother’s foundation. “I’d say, ‘You gotta play football.’ We would play one-on-one basketball, and I would say, ‘If I beat you, you have to play football.’ He would always say, ’No way.’

“I always noted his ability. He was real aggressive and athletic as heck. By his senior year, I’d been poking at him for about four years.”

Finally, Jaydon got the itch as a senior at West Linn. He watched the first football game of the season from the stands. The next day, he texted football coach Chris Miller.

“I asked if I could try out,” Jaydon says. “I wanted to have fun. I’d always enjoyed football.”

They talked that weekend.

Says Jaydon: “Coach Miller said, ‘I’m not going to promise you anything, but we’ll definitely take you. You’ll have fun being around our group.’ ”

“Heck yeah, the more the merrier,” says Miller, now out of coaching and living in Eugene. “It was awesome to have him come out. When you have Brian Grant’s son, that’s great pedigree. Brian was not only a great player but is also a sweet gentleman — just a nice man.”

To say his parents were surprised at his choice to play football is an understatement.

“It was incredibly shocking to me,” Brian says. “I didn’t even know that football was an option for him. A couple of times, I was with Houston and he was talking football and I said, ‘You mean basketball?’ I always wanted it to be basketball. I mean, that’s the sport I played. I thought he should have done that. But he took his own path and created his own career.”

Brian thinks his son was underrated as a basketball player in high school.

“The way it was set up at West Linn, it didn’t give other kids too much room to show their stuff,” Brian says. “Don’t get me wrong. Payton is deserving of everything that has come his way. I remember dropping my kids off at school when he was in the eighth grade. I’d see him before school on the track, running wind sprints. I told my kids, ‘That’s what hard work looks like. Down the road, it’s going to pay off for him.’

“(Coach) Eric Viuhkola did a great job of teaching him and putting him up against big-time competition. It’s easy to coach a team with a player like Payton, but don’t forget the surrounding players, either.

Jaydon’s mom was not happy with the news her son was going to play football.

“I was against it 200 percent,” Gina says. “I freaked out. I mean, he was a basketball player. The whole thing of wanting to play football was a complete surprise. I knew I’d have to eat my words one day, but I did not want him to play football. He’d worked so hard in basketball. It was his dream. But it’s crazy. You never know what opportunities God brings you. Jaydon took his and he ran it. And he’s pretty damn good.”

Says Brian: “I would loved to have seen him get opportunities in college basketball. But football turned to be his thing.”

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Jaydon had to clear the OSAA requirement of nine padded practices in order to play for West Linn. He didn’t play until the fifth game of the season, at cornerback.

“He hadn’t played football in forever,” Miller says. “It took him until late in the year to feel comfortable out there, to get into football shape and learn our schemes.”

Soon, though, Jaydon was in the starting lineup.

“He became an impact player for us,” Miller says. “He was a tenacious kid, tough, an athlete and a ferocious competitor. He’d come up and hit people hard. He was a big factor in the playoffs. He had a great pick-six in the state semifinals against Sherwood.

“I still check up on Jaydon from time to time. Just a wonderful human being. Glad I got the chance to coach him.”

West Linn lost to Jesuit for the state championship, but Jaydon got the chance to play with stalwarts such as Elijah Molden (“Can you image a high school secondary with Elijah and Jaydon at corners?” Lillard asks) and quarterback Tim Tawa for nine games.

“I was able to earn some respect,” Grant says. “Had four or five picks in the playoffs. I had no idea, though, that once football season was over it wasn’t over for me with football. I’d had my fun. Now it was back to business in basketball.”

The Lions won a fourth straight state basketball title, and Jaydon had a good season.

“He was getting some Big Sky looks for basketball,” Lillard says. “He still swore he was going to play basketball in college.”

On an official basketball visit to Portland State, Jaydon and his father attended a basketball game. As they were heading to their seats, they saw Lillard talking to a Viking football coach.

“It was Coach (Malik) Roberson, the defensive coordinator,” Jaydon recalls. “Houston calls me over. He’s telling (Roberson) they need to look at my football tape, that I’m a guy he needs to recruit. (Roberson) said he would look at the tape, but in my head, in the most respectful way, I was thinking, ‘I couldn’t care less if you look a that tape. I’m not playing football.’ ”

The next day, Roberson phoned Jaydon. The coach wanted to bring him to campus for an official visit, and soon Jaydon was offered a scholarship to play football at PSU. “That gave Jay the idea that he could play college football,” Lillard says.

Viking football coaches didn’t want him to play basketball, though, and he was thinking if he was going there, he wanted to play both sports.

So Grant verbally committed to Oregon — as a preferred walk-on for football.

“I liked the Beavers, too, but growing up I was a big Oregon fan,” Jaydon says.

His friendship with Pritchard played a role.

“He is like my brother,” Jaydon says. “We were on the same basketball team all through the years. Payton’s work ethic was second to none. We both drove each other on with our competitiveness. Video games, one-on-one, kickball — we were ultra-competitive.”

Another friend was Central Catholic grad La’Mar Winston, who played linebacker for the Ducks.

“We were all going (to Oregon) together,” Grant says. “It was going to be this cool thing. Back then, I didn’t want to go off on my own. But then in the next few weeks, things changed.”

“He had committed on the spot,” Lillard says. “I was like, ‘Why are you going there? You can’t be a walk-on at a school that is recruiting like they recruit. They’re not going to see the value in you til it’s over.’  He ended up flipping to Oregon State. The rest is history.”

Jaydon had gone on an unofficial visit with his mother to the Eugene campus.

“I met a few staff members, but no coaches were there,” he says. “Then when I asked to do an official visit with my dad, it seemed like it was kind of an inconvenience for them.”

“I’ve always liked Oregon State,” Brian says. “Oregon has more advantages monetarily. Oregon State has had to work harder for what it’s got. Jaydon asked Oregon if he could have a visit with his dad down there. They told him, ‘Well, maybe sometime during the season.’

“After that he said, ‘Let’s visit Oregon State.’ We went there, checked out the stadium, the locker room, met the coach. They took us around campus — man, I had no idea how beautiful the campus is. Nothing against Oregon, but I said, ‘At the end of the day, that’s what a visit looks like.’ ”

“Dad told me, ‘You don’t owe anybody anything,’ ” Jaydon says. “I’ve always felt like an underdog. I felt athletically I never got the recognition I deserved, especially in basketball. Oregon State was coming off a 2-10 season. I felt it would be right for me to start my journey at a place that needs those grinders in the mud.

“Something was telling me to go to Oregon State, that the situation would be most comfortable with me. I felt like it would be the best off the field for me, too. I felt I was making the right decision for me personally. I needed to be at a place where they actually value you. I felt like I’d get a fair chance to earn what I deserve.”

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Jaydon is appreciative of one advantage he had over some of his teammates who were walking on with him at Oregon State in 2016.

“A lot of the guys have to earn a scholarship to afford college,” he says. “I was going to have the support of my family. I’ve always been financially blessed and never had to go through a situation like that. That took a lot of pressure off me to do what I was passionate about.”

Jaydon showed some promise during his first three years at Oregon State, but couldn’t seem to catch a break.

“When I first started seeing him play and not getting any time, it was hard to watch him be so upset,” Brian says. “He’d come home in the summertime and would be working out with Houston and a strength coach. I saw the dedication in his eyes. He started playing better as he got older. I watched some practices and he’d be in the right place, and he had a knack for making things happen.

“But every time something was going good for him, an injury would happen. A lot of kids in his position would have given up. I told him, ‘You’ve had to jump over a lot of hurdles. Just keep jumping.’ ”

That’s exactly what Jaydon did.

“I was never close to quitting,” he says. “I thought (Oregon State’s coaches) might be coming close to making me shut it down. Had I been a scholarship player, they probably would have. I wasn’t taking a scholarship, so I was still a free player for them.

“It was definitely discouraging. There were some dark times. I’d sometimes think, ‘Did I choose the right place? Did I choose the right sport?’ God looked out for me every step of the way. The way things turned out, I couldn’t be more blessed.”

Over the past few seasons, Brian Grant has been a regular at Reser Stadium.

“I missed only one game this year, and I’ll be at the Oregon game,” he says. “I enjoy it. That team he’s playing on this year, they’re unbelievable. They could easily be sitting 10-1.

“Jaydon makes a difference out there. When they were playing at Washington, somebody said, ‘Every time I look up, there’s Grant on the tackle.’ He’ll be on the other side of the field and all of a sudden he’ll be in the picture, getting a little extra hit in. This kid is all over the place.”

Jaydon doesn’t take lightly the fact that he has been voted by teammates captain each of the last three seasons.

“That means more to me than any All-Pac-12 or Player of the week award ever could,” he says. “I pride myself in being a good teammate. That’s the way I‘ve always been. For me to be captain the first time was the greatest honor I’d ever gotten in  sports. To get it two more times after that — it’s just a blessing.”

“Jaydon has always been a leader,” his mother says. “But seeing the type of leader he is to the boys on his team and the way he gives his everything to Oregon State is very admirable.”

Jalen Moore was a four-year starting safety at Oregon State from 2015-19. He played with Grant for four seasons and was roommates with him for 3 1/2 years. Jalen is now in his second season as director of on-campus recruiting. His career goal: Become a general manager in the NFL.

“Jaydon is the heart and soul of our defense,” Moore says. “He is the smartest dude on the field at all times. He has really good play recognition. He studies a lot of film. He’s a football junkie. He’s going to give it everything he has in the film room. He’s going to study everything. He sees a lot of things the coaches don’t see.”

Moore mentions a word that is often used by friends and family in describing Jaydon.

“Selfless,” he says. “He’s the most selfless guy I’ve ever met. He’s a guy you want on your side at all costs. He’s a leader who’s going to die out there for the team if you let him. He wants to win for Oregon State. He gives everything he has for the football program. He will go to war against every opponent. He has (teammates) beside him believing in themselves. The culture of the program when I was playing and what it is now is night and day. Jaydon is a big part of that. He’s just a pro all the way.”

Alex Austin, a redshirt sophomore in his fourth season at OSU and a starting cornerback, is Grant’s current roommate and, in Austin’s mind, his video game foil.

“I like beating him in NBA 2K,” Alex says.

“Jaydon is a soldier,” Austin says. “He’s one that’s all about his football program, all about his team. He’s a great football player all around. A great teammate and a great ballplayer. Tough. Shows leadership. He leaves it all out there for his brothers.

“He’s a leader not just on the field, but off the field. He leads by example. He’s one of those older guys on the team you can come to for advice, and he’s going to not lead you the wrong way. He will always have your back; he is somebody you can trust. He is genuine. He is laid back, likes to crack jokes. Funny guy. He’s a great friend.”

Jaydon deflects some of the praise to his teammates, pointing out the Beavers have six team captains.

“I love the fact that in those big moments, when something needs to be said, guys look at me,” he says. “But it’s same as they do with other guys. We could have 10 to 12 guys fall into that category. It’s a cool thing that Coach Smith has instituted. Our team these last two years has really has been player-led.”

Blue Adams is in his fourth season as Oregon State’s secondary coach. His arrival coincided with the serious neck injury he suffered during spring training in 2019.

“When I had that injury, Blue had been (at OSU) for a couple of weeks,” Jaydon says. “I remember laying on the ground, wiggling my toes and fingers to make sure I wasn’t paralyzed. And he was right there on his knees, holding my hand. He visited me at my house in Corvallis and drove to West Linn to visit me when I took a couple of weeks off to recuperate.

“He was the coach I was always looking for. He didn’t care how fast I was, how big I was, how tall I was. He saw how much of a competitor, a sponge for knowledge, how hard a worker I was. It’s been amazing to be here through this whole time and build what the other guys and I have built together in the secondary under him. Blue Adams will forever be more than a coach to me.”

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There’s a story to Jaydon Grant off the field, too. For awhile, disappointment over not getting playing time had filtered over to the classroom. Somewhere along the line, he became a student.

“The first few years, I was just getting by,” he says. “Then I was making some reflections and changes to my life. You’re only going to get out what you put in. You can’t be upset at every circumstance that doesn’t go your way. I let some of these issues on the field affect me off the field.

“I never failed a class at Oregon State, but I never liked the idea of being average. Kobe Bryant, who has always been my favorite athlete, always talked about trying to excel in all aspects of your life. I had to embody that off the field. How I am as a friend, teammate, son, student? All those things are important.”

After four years, Jaydon earned an undergraduate degree in new media communications with a minor in business entrepreneurship. Over the last three years, he gained a Masters graduate certificate in business analytics; his second Masters degree in in science and business and marketing and analytic insight. His grade-point average as an undergrad: 2.9. During his Masters studies: 3.5.

“That’s something I’m proud of myself more for than football,” Jaydon says. “Numerous times, I was at a crossroads. My academic advisor, Natalie Nakic, did a good job of not letting me settle for being average. I finally realized if I didn’t take the opportunity to do something big, like coming out of Oregon State with a Masters, I’d be kicking myself in the butt. For me to get it done and to get a second Masters on top of that — wow. I made the most out of my academic situation here.”

“As a mother, that by far to me is the most important thing,” Gina says. “A kid could go right through playing football and not take care of the academic side. But Jaydon has killed it. Three degrees! That adds to the story. It’s like the cherry on top. After football, what does he have to look forward to? The sky is not even the limit. He has everything he wants ahead for him.”

The old man feels that way.

“Jaydon got a chance to play some football and did well, but I’m more proud of the Masters degrees that he has,” Brian says. “When football is over for him, there are going to be so many other things open up. He is smart, well-spoken, knows what he’s talking about. That’s what people notice.”

Jaydon is co-founder of “Dam Change,” a Black student advocacy group at OSU, founded during the inception of the Black Lives Matter movement after the killing of George Floyd. He was also was one of 12 student-athletes to front the “We Are United” campaign in 2020, speaking out for fair treatment, enhanced safety and improving social justice conditions in the Pac-12.

“One thing that has impressed me about Jaydon, he stands for something,” Chris Miller says. “He was at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter stuff in Corvallis. He wants to be involved.”

“I know Jaydon as my son,” Brian says. “He is always playing pranks on his brothers. Looks out for his sisters. But now I’ve gotten to see what kind of person he is. Like when the (BLM) demonstrations were going on, he was right there. When he speaks, you know what he’s talking about, because he knows what he’s talking about.”

When I ask Jaydon to reflect on his time at Oregon State, he pauses for a moment. Then he launches.

“I grew leaps and bounds, not only as an athlete, but as a man, as a person,” he says. “That’s even more important than what I do on the field. I embraced the leadership role. I’d always been leader, but sometimes I shied away and followed the crowd. I got rid of that and became more of a leader. I learned how to control what I can control.

“So many circumstances, different occasions of adversity throughout my career — maybe this happened to me, or I’m not playing — to where it was out of my control. Learning to control what you can control, that allows me to get something out of it. You’ll never get better if you worry about others. The only thing you can control is your own actions. That was a valuable life lesson.”

Those around him appreciate the person Jaydon is.

“He has always been compassionate,” his mother says. “He loves his family. He puts himself on the line for others. He’s a go-getter. He’s an overachiever. And now he is extremely intelligent and articulate. And a bit of hothead at times. He’ll probably tell you he gets that from me.”

“Jay is a resilient guy,” Lillard says. “He’s determined. I’m proud of him. I knew he was talented and would put the work in, but it’s like he’s doing it at the highest level right now. He’s one of the best players (the Beavers) have. To continue to get better and defy the odds and battle through injuries. … He cares about the things he does. He’s a good young man. He’s invested. It all comes out when he plays. You can tell he’s prepared and in position to make the right play.

“I love that boy Jay. I think the future is very bright for him.”

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A new beginning is coming. But first, the end to a college career that began in a program in disarray and has ended with back-to-back bowl appearances.

“I can’t tell you how meaningful that is to me,” Grant says. “It shows the progress we’ve had since Coach Smith came (in 2018). Every year, we’ve gotten better. Humbly speaking, I know I was part of that. I know I impact the guys around me. Just to be a part of that and to be able to experience moments like we’ve had these last two years … it’s been an extremely rewarding process.”

The last regular-season game is, ironically, against the team with whom he once verbally committed. And Oregon State’s in-state rival.

“Beating the Ducks … it would mean everything,” Jaydon says. “We’re supposed to treat every game the same. Well, it’s not the same game for me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m an in-state kid and grew up watching the rivalry …  You do anything to win. It’s one of those games. Those dudes don’t like us; we don’t like them. That’s what a rivalry is all about. Nothing wrong with that at all. There’s nothing civil about this game. There’s a lot on the line for their program, but there is for ours, too.”

Making the NFL is his next goal.

“People think since I’ve been at Oregon State so long that I’m not interested (in the NFL), that I’d have left early if I was,” Jaydon says. “That’s what’s crazy about my journey. I’ve really only had this last four years to play football. I don’t chase it for money or fame. It’s strictly because people told me I would never play at Oregon State. I remember when guys asked me why I walked on and didn’t think I could make the team.

“My goal is to have the satisfaction of being able to compete at the highest level and consider myself as one of the best playing the game. I want to be considered one of the best. I’m going to work to accomplish that, just like I’ve done through my life.”

Grant, who turns 25 next June, is not particularly big, nor overly fast. He may not bring the analytic numbers the scouts are looking for. The website Walterfootball.com lists 33 cornerbacks and 20 safeties eligible for the draft and doesn’t mention him. The website nfldraftbuzz.com rates 139 defensive backs. No mention.

There is no way to quantify intangibles, of course. Or the size of one’s heart.

“Jaydon is capable of playing in the NFL,” his father says. “I put in a lot of hard work to get to the NBA, but a lot of people had my back. Also, a lot of lucky things happened to help get me there. He has the drive to do the hard work, the skills. It’s going to take a team to say, ‘We like him. He might fit with our organization.’ ”

Miller doesn’t weigh in on Jaydon’s NFL chances, but says he reminds him of Gill Byrd, a safety who played 10 seasons as a starter with San Diego.

“Jaydon’s not a speed-burner, but he always puts himself in position where he doesn’t get beat deep,” Miller says. “He has a very high football IQ. I was training (quarterback) Eric Dungy at Lakeridge. A few times Jaydon would come by and work out with us and bring some of (Oregon State’s) receivers. He would give coaching pointers to them about what he’s seeing and specific routes that would be effective against certain covers. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a football coach down the road, if he wants to get into it.”

Lillard is “100 percent” convinced Grant can play in the NFL.

“Over the years, he has played multiple positions,” Lillard says. “He has shown he can cover. He has shown he can make tackles. He can play different defenses and be in different spots on defensive sets. He literally can plays every phase of the game as a DB. He can pick up all the coverages like a quarterback sets him apart.”

If Jaydon Grant makes the NFL, it will be another great story. The young man has been pretty good at creating them through the years.

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