8/6/2020 football Edit

BeaversEdge Top 25 for 2020: No. 12 Jaydon Grant

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

Publisher

In the months leading up to the start of fall camp, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the Top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2020 roster.

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No. 3 Jaydon Grant

6-foot, 185-pounds

Cornerback

Redshirt-Junior

West Linn, Ore.

West Linn HS

2019 stats: Played in all 12 games, making nine starts - Recorded 40 tackles, adding two interceptions with 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, a forced fumble, and three pass breakups - Intercepted a pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown versus Washington

2019 Recap

The 2019 season was a breakout year for the Oregonian native Jaydon Grant as he thrived in his redshirt-sophomore season.

The 6-foot, 185-pound cornerback had shown plenty of potential since arriving on campus prior to the start of the 2016 campaign but struggled to stay healthy and on the field as his true-freshman campaign in '16 and redshirt-freshman season in '17 were nearly lost due to injury.

Grant suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in 2016 prior to the start of fall camp and then missed all but the first three games in '17 due to another season-ending injury.

Once Grant was able to put those injuries behind him, we were able to see full-bore what he's able to bring to the table. During his first full season in '18, Grant was able to stay healthy and earn valuable experience as he played in 10 games, making 16 tackles with two pass deflections.

Both he and the team received stellar news before the start of the 2019 season as he received a clock-extension from the NCAA and was given an extra season of eligibility.

Entering 2019 as a redshirt-sophomore, Grant rose to the occasion and became a key member of the Beavers' secondary, playing in all 12 games, including nine starts. On the field, Grant recorded 40 tackles and recorded the first two interceptions of his career. The later came against Washington when Grant was able to intercept UW's Jacob Eason and take it all the way back for a pick-six.

All in all, the 2019 season was a coming-out party for Grant as he was able to stay healthy and productive on the field, earning the trust of the Beavers' secondary and defensive coaches, thus giving him a much bigger role in the coming seasons.

2020 Outlook

Heading into the 2020 season, there's a lot of expectation and excitement for what Grant is going to bring to the table. The West Linn native showed flashes of being really good in 2019 and he'll be hoping to further increase that production and leadership in 2020.

I was caught a little off guard a couple of months ago when the media spoke to defensive backs' coach Blue Adams and he said that he wanted all of his cornerbacks to have the mindset, toughness, and grit that Grant plays with on an every-snap basis.

"Being a nice guy is great and all, but sometimes you've got to have a little prick in you," Adams said in May. "Those other guys are coming along, but (Jaydon) Grant is the only guy who's got that supreme edge I'm looking for."

To me, that spoke volumes about what Adams and the Beavers are expecting from Grant this year. It's not often that a position coach will single out one guy so bluntly, but the fact that he did shows me that Grant is expected to be a huge contributor to the secondary in 2020.