Page 102 - Coffee County

ccording to answers.yahoo.com, a high school football player’s chances of being drafted into the NFL stand at .008 percent. If you don’t get drafted, your chances are even slimmer. Which is what makes Adrian Grady’s journey from Nicholls to professional football all the more remarkable. Grady graduated from Coffee High School as an All-Region linebacker with 159 tackles to his credit. He signed with the University of Louisville, where he enjoyed a solid four-year career, three of which were under current Arkansas Head Coach Bobby Petrino. During Grady’s years at Louisville, the Cardinals were in the national title discussion more than once. In 2006, Louisville went 10-1 and faced Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl, which the Cardinals won 24-13, fnishing the season ffth in the Associated Press Poll.

Grady was on the radar screen for several NFL teams after his senior year. He was always one of Louisville’s strongest players; at 6’2”, 300 pounds, he could go toe-to-toe with anybody on the team. His size, strength and speed made him an attractive prospect for the NFL, especially a team that incorporated a 4-3 defense that would allow Grady to showcase his athleticism. During the 2009 NFL Draft, Grady had been in contact with a few teams, most notably the New England Patriots. “They had called me around the fourth or ffth round. I knew they wanted me,” he recalls. The Patriots didn’t call his name, neither did any other team. The draft ended