Midway through the second quarter of the matchup between the No. 3 Michigan football team and No. 10 Penn State, Nittany Lions running back Kaytron Allen took off.
He found a hole, dodged a tackle with a stutter step and bolted forward with nothing but green grass in front of him.
But behind him, and closing fast, was 340-pound sophomore defensive lineman Kenneth Grant moving at full speed. Grant had diagnosed the run at the line, and beelined for Allen at an angle. And in the race between the running back and the defensive lineman, Grant won easily, yanking Allen to the ground from behind and preventing a touchdown in the process.
“Kenneth Grant running down the running back, I mean, I was up off my feet,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday. “It was one of the best plays of the season, maybe one of the best plays ever.”
While Grant’s electrifying tackle certainly earned Harbaugh’s praise, his performance on Saturday as a whole also marked one of his best. With a career high four solo tackles, two of which shifted momentum in major ways, Grant helped the Wolverines seep the energy out of Penn State’s offense and transfer it to Michigan.
For Grant, that energy started with the first whistle.
With the Wolverines’ offense trotting off of the field after an uninspired three-and-out to start the game, Grant and the defensive line went to work. On the Nittany Lions’ first play from scrimmage, a run, Grant blew past two offensive linemen and bear-tackled Penn State’s running back Nick Singleton on a one-yard gain.
And as Grant got up flexing and yelling, it was clear he would provide the Wolverines with a burst of energy throughout the remainder of the game.
“It definitely meant a lot to me, just knowing that it meant a lot to my teammates and my coaches,” Grant said Monday.
And again, on the first play of his defense’s very next drive — Grant did the exact same thing. He blew past the offensive line and caught Singleton before he could get going, this time holding him for no gain. Starting off back-to-back drives by shutting down the Nittany Lions’ run game, Grant sent a message early on.
“Kenneth was dominant in the game, he was the real tone setter,” Harbaugh said. “Right from the first series he’s playing great.”
Grant’s dominance, while most apparent in Penn State, has shone through at several points this year. In his first game of the year against UNLV, Grant registered 1.5 sacks on four total tackles. Against Nebraska, he caught his first interception on a tipped ball. And on the season he has 18 total tackles, 10 of which are solo.
His emergence, alongside fellow defensive tackle Mason Graham’s, was predicted by Harbaugh at the 2022 Big Ten Media Day when he referred to them as “gifts from the football Gods,” and Saturday against Penn State, Grant showed why that was the case.
But even with an overall performance as strong as Grant’s, what seemed to stick after the game was the sheer shock at the speed he had exhibited in his touchdown-saving chasedown of Allen. With his size and position, Grant’s speed even caught some of his own teammates by surprise.
“I looked up and I was like ‘Damn is that KG?’ Like running down, chasing running backs?” Michigan wide receiver Cornelius Johnson said Monday. “… But he’s been running like that, even in the summer. I remember (director of strength and conditioning Ben Herbert) pointed out his 40 was insane for his body and size.”
For the most part, pure speed isn’t a necessity for the position Grant plays. His job is to overwhelm linemen and stuff plays at the line of scrimmage. But Grant’s speed certainly isn’t something that has hurt him. Saturday, as he sprinted and kept a touchdown off of the board, he proved that.
And as to the roots of his speed, Grant passes much of the credit along to his family.
“Credit to my dad,” Grant said. “We used to take daily walks and we would race around the block. He always used to beat me and say that I’d never beat him. But now I think I could beat him for sure.”
And unless his dad is faster than a Big Ten running back, Saturday proved that Grant’s not lying.