Our 2025 scouting reports

Articles

The Trick Play Podcast Team

Twitter Twitch Spotify Link
Search

Kenneth Grant, IDL, Michigan (Junior)

Picture of Rayane M

Rayane M

The 2025 NFL Draft is fast approaching, and despite an initial impression that this year's class might lack talent, The Trick Play team has once again delved into the tapes to bring you scouting reports on the players who will soon wear the jerseys of your favorite franchises.

From Quarterback to Safety, including the trenches where Offensive Linemen and Defensive Linemen engage in a relentless battle, Rayane and Valentin will walk you through the new faces of this 2025 draft class while everyone is excited about the coming NFL Draft

 

Strengths :

  • Passionate and willing
  • Insane pursuit capacity
  • Explosivity and speed
  • Powerful
  • Leverage
  • Huge hands work
  • Potential


Weaknesses :

  • Takeoff
  • Still too raw
  • Lower the head too much
  • Pass rush needs improvement
  • Separation
  • Small arms
  • Lateral Quickness
     
     

TTProfil

 

Kenneth Grant, Nose Tackle for the Michigan Wolverines, immediately caught my eye last season and quickly earned a scouting report due to his impressive performances. However, imagine my surprise when I discovered that he was simply too young to declare and thus ineligible.
So, with a heavy heart, I thought I had scouted him for nothing last year. Well, not entirely for nothing, as it allowed me to track his progress over the past two years and keep him on my radar.

Firstly, if there's one thing that should immediately strike you about Kenneth, it's the heart with which he plays. He is passionate, and this is evident in his relentless pursuits, which are remarkable for a player of his size and even more so for a Nose Tackle. Let's be clear, most players at the Nose position are either somewhat lazy or have builds that don't allow for such pursuits, yet Kenneth stands out in this regard.

His pursuit ability and the determination he displays in these situations are impressive. It's not uncommon to see him chase down ball carriers, sometimes over several yards. He has even saved significant plays for Michigan's defense, plays that could have easily turned into touchdowns without his relentless effort. This is a major strength for him and also speaks volumes about his personality and desire to win.

Another standout feature is his explosiveness and speed, which are remarkable for his size. However, despite these strengths, they do not overshadow two minor flaws in Kenneth's game: a lack of lateral quickness and a characteristic delay in his takeoff, a common issue at Michigan. We'll delve deeper into these points in the

Additionally, and this is a crucial point when discussing a Nose Tackle, Kenneth is not lacking in power. His strength is evident in certain actions where he easily bull-rushes guards, but especially when he absorbs double teams without giving ground, allowing the edge rusher, 3-technique DT, or a blitzing linebacker next to him to make a play.
In this regard, Kenneth can be extremely valuable to his team, even when he isn't credited with a tackle on the stat sheet. His strength is also evident in his ability to stay low and maintain a solid base, whether facing a pass or run play. As a result, Kenneth, aided by his relatively short stature, typically plays with good leverage.
 
In terms of pass rush, while Grant is not a lethal threat, he should not be left unattended. With impressive explosiveness, good mobility, significant strength, and a respectable move set for a Nose Tackle, he remains risky to leave in one-on-one situations. Additionally, Grant demonstrates excellent hand technique to prevent blockers from getting their hands on
Thanks to his hand technique and impressive athletic abilities, Kenneth is capable of making impressive plays on the field. While this allows him to make significant plays in pass situations, it's also not uncommon to see him burst into the opposing backfield to tackle the ball carrier in run situations.
His hands are equally active when disrupting the opposing quarterback's passing lanes. It's not uncommon to see Kenneth deflect tightly thrown balls, leading to incomplete passes or even interception opportunities.
 
To conclude Kenneth's strengths, we must discuss his potential, particularly as a modern and dominant 1-technique Nose Tackle. Kenneth is still young and already shows promise in pass rush situations, in addition to dominating and controlling gaps in run situations.
Additionally, Kenneth appears capable of handling the job as a 0-technique Nose Tackle, making him versatile enough to play in any defensive front and situation. This means you can rely on Kenneth on the field without having to use him situationally.
Regarding weaknesses, let's start with the issue of stance exit, which has been a persistent problem for Michigan players over the past few years. Similar to former Michigan players like Kris Jenkins and Mazi Smith, Kenneth Grant sometimes has the bad habit of rising up on his first step at takeoff rather than moving forward.
Due to this issue, he sometimes allows blockers to engage him before he can gain momentum. This is a recurring problem among Michigan Wolverines prospects in recent years, and when it appears in three prospects over three seasons, it's clear that it stems from coaching. It's unfortunate to see this issue persist, given the chaos Kenneth can create despite this slight lack of initial explosiveness.
While he has started addressing this issue with the change in Michigan's coaching staff this season, it remains a habit ingrained over multiple seasons during crucial developmental years for a prospect. Therefore, there is still work to be done before he can fully overcome this weakness.
 
Another area to monitor with Kenneth is his tendency to lower his head upon contact with the offensive lineman. When this happens, he loses sight of the opposing backfield and cannot read the play. If we combine this with the next point, which is that Grant sometimes abandons his gap responsibility in run situations to attempt a "stuff," we can quickly see that Grant has work to do to become a more effective player. In such actions, where he leaves his gap to stuff it, he often doesn't realize that he's actually opening his gap more than anything else. A brief explanation of "run stuff" or "stuffing a gap": it's the action of pushing a blocker into one gap and positioning your own body in the adjacent gap, effectively "closing" two gaps with one player.

His performance at the start of the match against Minnesota this season is a good illustration of this issue, quickly highlighting the problem.
In certain plays during the Minnesota game, Kenneth lowers his head to contact the offensive lineman while shifting into the B gap (between the guard and tackle) to stuff the guard into the A gap (between the center and guard), which is actually his responsibility gap when aligned as a 1-technique. The issue is that by lowering his head, he fails to notice that the play is already developing and moving directly into his responsibility gap (the A gap), which he has left open. Even though Michigan's defense reacts well, yards are given up unnecessarily, which is unfortunate. If Kenneth wants to regularly use the run stuff technique, that's fine, but he needs proper coaching. He could just as effectively position his body in his responsibility gap and stuff his opponent into another gap. By doing so, he would perform significant work without risking compromising his own gap responsibility. 
 
Kenneth remains a raw player who will need to work on many aspects before becoming a dominant starter at his position, especially in a physically demanding league like the NFL, where it's rare to see rookies dominate as Nose Tackles. The extent of the work needed is evident in various areas of his game, particularly in his pass rush abilities.
While being a pass-rush threat isn’t the number one priority for a nose tackle, it’s one of the key factors that separates the good from the great. If Kenneth wants to become one of the best at his position, he’ll need to address some issues and improve in this area.
 
His pass rush is already an area with significant room for improvement. While his move set is fairly decent for a nose tackle, the issue is that he takes far too long to commit to a technique—when he even decides to use one. Kenneth also struggles just as much to execute a counter move when he's initially stopped. These two issues prevent him from fully utilizing his arsenal and reaching his most dangerous potential as a pass rusher.
Additionally, while his move set is decent for a nose tackle, there’s room for improvement in expanding beyond just bull rushes and simple hand swipes, which currently make up the majority of Grant’s pass-rush approach.
 
Despite having good speed and explosiveness for his size, Kenneth sometimes lacks lateral quickness to be truly disruptive on stunts or to make tackles on outside zone plays. This is frustrating given his athletic traits, but in a business as demanding as the NFL, this will undoubtedly be a factor teams consider before deciding whether to draft him.
 
Finally, we have to talk about his ability to disengage, which at times is simply not up to par. I hate to say it because I really like Grant, but the number of plays he misses because of this is far too high. Whether it’s due to lowering his head, failing to extend his arms despite having good strength (which happens way too often), or other factors, the fact remains that Kenneth doesn’t shed blockers enough to impact the game as much as he could—and should.
While his raw talent sometimes allows him to blow up plays even without creating separation, there are just as many instances where he’s right there but fails to make an impact as he should—and as he’s capable of doing.
With his relatively short arms already working against him, developing better separation could become a crucial factor in allowing him to make plays at the pro level.
 

To wrap up this extensive report on Kenneth Grant, what else can be said other than that he could very well be one of the best picks in this stacked class of elite defensive linemen? However, it’s important to remember that there’s still plenty of work to be done before Grant’s full potential is realized on the big stage. His position on the field also matters—he’s a nose tackle, not a defensive tackle, and that distinction is crucial when setting expectations. Don’t expect eye-popping stat lines from Kenneth, no matter how highly I speak of him leading up to the draft or how much I admire his game. Putting up big numbers isn’t a nose tackle’s job, but history has shown that every great team has been built on the contributions of these unsung heroes in the trenches.

Kenneth has plenty to offer NFL franchises with a skill set perfectly suited for a modern nose tackle—powerful, mobile, capable of playing as a Tech-1 in a 4-3 front or a Tech-0 in a 3-4, already strong against the run, promising as a pass rusher, a College Football Playoff champion, and still young. With so many standout traits, it’s no surprise that I have him ranked as a Tier 1 prospect.

While all these traits are important, it’s ultimately the heart and determination he plays with that won me over. While the Nose Tackle's position value is low and therefore likely to drag him down, make no mistake, Kenneth is a 1st Round talent if only on his potential and yes don't forget, first round talent or not, there will be development work to do with Kenneth Grant to train him for the NFL trenches.

Tagged

All Texts Rights Reserved © 2023

All content on this site is protected by copyright laws. It is prohibited to reproduce, distribute, or use these materials in any way without the express permission of their owners. 

en_USEnglish
en_USEnglish fr_FRFrançais