Larry James Grant (born February 16, 1985) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

. He was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the seventh round of the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Grant also played for the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

. He is the former head football coach at

Paso Robles High School Paso Robles High School (PRHS) is the only comprehensive high school located in the city of Paso Robles, California. The school receives its students from George H. Flamson Middle School and Daniel E. Lewis Middle School, both located in Paso Roble ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Early years

Grant began during his freshman year at Foothill High School in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, where he lettered as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and

safety (gridiron football position) Safety is a position in gridiron football on the American football positions#Defense, defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safet ...

safety. He then moved to Georgia, attending

Meadowcreek High School Meadowcreek High School is a public high school located in Norcross, Georgia, United States, off I-85 and led by principal Kevin Wood. The school is part of the Gwinnett County Public Schools system. Meadowcreek High School is the most diverse sec ...

in Norcross, Georgia, for his sophomore and junior years. Grant then transferred to

Norcross High School Norcross High School is a public high school in Norcross, Georgia, United States, part of the Gwinnett County School System, and serving the cities of Norcross and Peachtree Corners. The school's mascot is the Blue Devil. The school is also th ...

as a senior and lettered as a tailback, rushing for 450 yards with six touchdowns on only 35 carries (12.9 avg) during his senior campaign. He then left Norcross High in the winter, moving back to California, where he re-enrolled and graduated from Foothill High School.

College career

Grant attended

City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a State school#United States, public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local ...

before finishing his career at

. In 2005, Larry was named JUCO National Player of the Year. He played in four straight national championship games (two at City College and two at Ohio State). For his entire collegiate career, Grant started 38 of 49 games he played in, registering 244 tackles (162 solos) with 15.5 sacks and 30.5 stops for losses and caused eight fumbles, recovered three others and had nine pass break-ups, Also, he gained 131 yards on eight interception returns and blocked 15 kicks, returning three blocked punts for a total of 84 yards and a touchdown. Following the season, Grant was named the No. 1 junior college prospect from the state of California by

JCGridiron.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckm ...

. In 25 games at Ohio State, Grant started 14 contests. He recorded 69 tackles (43 solos) with 5.5 sacks for minus-34 yards and 10 stops for losses of 45 yards. He caused a fumble, deflected three passes and intercepted two others for 68 yards in returns. He also blocked three kicks, returning two errant punts for a total of 17 yards. In 24 games at the City College of San Francisco, Grant recorded 175 tackles (119 solos) with 10 sacks and 20.5 stops for losses, as he caused seven fumbles, recovered three others and deflected six passes and also gained 63 yards with a touchdown on six interceptions and set both California junior college and NJCAA career records with 12 blocked kicks, scoring on a 65-yard punt runback. He was a two-time All-Region I, All-COA, All-California and All-NorCal Football Conference selection, adding NJCAA National Defensive Player of the Year, California Junior College Player of the Year and NJCAA First-team All-American honors as a senior while playing at City College of San Francisco (2004–05). In 2007 at Ohio State, he started all 13 games, recording 51 tackles (35 solo, 16 assisted) along with 9.5 tackles for loss, and one interception that he returned for 19 yards and had Ohio State’s only two blocked kicks of the season. In 2006 at OSU he played in 12 games and started one game and collected 18 tackles on the season and blocked a punt and intercepted pass. In 2005 at the City College of San Francisco he recorded 85 tackles (56 solos) with four sacks and nine stops for losses, caused three fumbles, recovered another and broke up four passes, intercepted 6 passes and also blocked six punts. In 2004, he had 90 tackles (63 solos) with six sacks and 11.5 stops for losses, as he also broke up two passes and blocked six punts, and recovered two fumbles and caused four others

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Grant was drafted by the 49ers in the seventh round with the 214th overall pick in the

St. Louis Rams

He was signed by the

at the end of the 2008 season from the 49ers practice squad. In 2010 Grant earned the starting weakside linebacker position for the Rams and ended up losing the position to Chris Chamberlain late in the season.

San Francisco 49ers (second stint)

Grant re-signed with the San Francisco 49ers on July 30, 2011. He would start 3 games at Inside Linebacker for an injured

Patrick Willis Patrick L. Willis (born January 25, 1985) is an American former football middle linebacker who played his entire eight-year career with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the 49ers in the first roun ...

late in December and registered a career-high 39 tackles for the season. At the end of the 2012 season, Grant and the 49ers appeared in Super Bowl XLVII. He contributed on special teams, but the 49ers fell to the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

by a score of 34–31.

Chicago Bears

Grant signed with the Chicago Bears on October 28, 2013. The Bears released him on November 16, 2013.

Cleveland Browns

Grant signed with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

on May 21, 2014. He was released by the team on June 6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Larry 1985 births Living people African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football American football linebackers Chicago Bears players City College of San Francisco Rams football players Cleveland Browns players Coaches of American football from California Coaches of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) High school football coaches in California Norcross High School alumni Ohio State Buckeyes football players Players of American football from California Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) San Francisco 49ers players Sportspeople from Santa Rosa, California Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area St. Louis Rams players