Local Sports
Alabama’s Grant ready to impress home-state crowd in Mississippi
By Justin GravesTUSCALOOSA — Just like every other high-profile college football prospect, Terry Grant felt a little pressure coming out of high school.
But Grant wasn’t just feeling pressure from the teams that were recruiting him. The Lumberton, Miss. native was also feeling it from the community.
“People would call me all the time saying ‘you need to got to MSU’, or ‘you need to go to SMU,’” Grant said. “Everybody wanted me to go to play for their favorite team.”
After talking things over with his family, Grant eventually decided to go against the grain and chose the program he thought best suited him. And despite all the constant pressure from friends and neighbors about staying in the state of Mississippi, Grant decided the best place for him to play football was at the University of Alabama.
Apparently Grant made the right decision. As a red shirt freshman this season, Grant is the Crimson Tide’s leading rusher with 727 yards through eight games.
“Choosing Alabama never was a hard choice,” he said. “I knew this is where I needed to be. It was the right decision.”
The decision to play football at Alabama may not have been a hard choice for Grant, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy for his friends at home to accept. And since the No. 21-ranked Crimson Tide are making their way to Starkville, Miss. Saturday morning to play Mississippi State, Grant’s friends at home are letting him know how they feel.
“Yeah, I’m getting a lot of phone calls this week,” Grant said. “Some people are letting me know they’re supporting me, and some others aren’t wishing me too much luck. It’s all in fun.”
Whether it’s all in fun or not, Grant doesn’t want to find out what his friends at home will have to say if Alabama loses Saturday. That’s why he intends on making the most of his homecoming.
But playing in his home state isn’t the only thing motivating Grant this week. He also wants to help Alabama fans forget about the Tide’s 20-yard rushing performance against LSU.
Alabama will face another tough defense this week at Mississippi State, but Grant is confident the Crimson Tide can rebound with a good performance.
“That leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” Grant said. “And the only way to get that bad taste out is to go out and get a win. What we have to do is let things come to us.
“From what I’ve heard, (Mississippi State) is very tough on defense. But I think we’re more than capable of having a good game. Everything should fall back into place this week.”
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