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WR/KR Grant Named to Paul Hornung Award Watch List

Rutgers WR/KR Janarion Grant (1) NJ.com

Rutgers WR/KR Janarion Grant (1)
NJ.com

Junior wide receiver/kick returner Janarion Grant (Trilby, Fla.) was named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list announced Monday by the Louisville Sports Commission. Presented by Texas Roudhouse, the accolade is given annually to college football’s most versatile athlete.

“I’m ecstatic that the Paul Hornung Award has gained national prominence in such a short time,” Paul Hornung said in a release according to louisvillesports.org. The 1956 Heisman Trophy winner played every position in the offensive backfield during his time at Notre Dame, and was a “triple threat halfback for the title town Green Bay Packers of the early 1960s,” according to the site.

“The quality of our winners, finalists and weekly honorees has been impressive, and I’m pleased that we are able to acknowledge outstanding players who contribute any way possible to help their teams win, the way I did with Notre Dame and the Green Bay Packers,” Hornung said.

“I look forward to following the players on our Watch List during the upcoming season and enjoy watching many of our winners and finalists from the first five years as they make their marks in the NFL,” continued Hornung who maintains an office in downtown Louisville and continues making appearances and public speaking. Hornung won the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback and earned NFL MVP honors for the Green Bay Packers in 1961, setting a single-season NFL scoring record rushing, receiving, passing and kicking that stood 46 years. He is a member of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, and Vince Lombardi once called him, “The most versatile man ever to play the game.”

Last season, the sensational sophomore Grant broke out for the Scarlet Knights on both special teams and offense. Grant led the team with 1,319 all-purpose yards and 25.3 yards per kickoff return with 910 yards overall. That mark is good for second in school history. He also managed 45 yards on six punt returns. The speedy receiver also ran the ball five times for 54 yards on end-arounds.

In addition, Grant had a big game and racked up 317 all-purpose yards (188 kick return, 105 receiving, 24 rushing) in the come-from-behind-win at Maryland to be just nine short of the program record for a game. His 132.2 all-purpose yards per conference game ranked sixth in the Big Ten. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Pasco High School product finished the season with 25 catches for 312 yards.

As a freshman in 2013, Grant took his first collegiate touch to the house for a 100-yard kick return touchdown at Fresno State and completed the season with 673 return yards (kickoff and punt). He also had a game changing punt return touchdown against Arkansas. You can watch the Fresno State kickoff return highlight below, and it is the very first play in the video.

httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?t=21&v=7oK-3dInIHs

The watch list contains 44 names of players from across the nation including six total from the Big Ten Conference.

 

For all your Rutgers football updates, keep it here at DoubleGSports.com

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