Richie Grant ready to step up at safety

This has the makings to be a big season for Richie Grant.

The Fort Walton Beach native saw his first college action last year as a reserve safety and special teams player and now as a redshirt sophomore, Grant is positioned to take over a primary role as one of UCF's starters following Tre Neal's departure to Nebraska. He was already sharing first-team reps with Neal during the spring.

Needless to say, Grant entered camp wanting to leave no doubts that he's ready for the challenge.

"I knew coming into this camp with Tre Neal leaving, I had some big shoes to fill," Grant said. "Not just on the field, but just being around the guys in general. When I first got here, Tre was like a big brother to me. I would always just watch what he did and try to model how he acted around coaches and teammates. I knew I had big shoes to fill. I came into this camp focused. I want to be a leader. I wanted to be somebody a younger guy could come up to and ask questions. Somebody that older guys can come to and ask questions. I just want to take over that role and excel at it."

There wasn't an immediate need for Grant to play during his true freshman season in 2016 with UCF four-deep at safety between Drico Johnson, T.J. Mutcherson, Kyle Gibson and Neal. He began to emerge the following spring, often mentioned by coaches and teammates as one of the team's budding stars. He played in all 13 games during the perfect season, recording 32 tackles.

"The biggest thing I learned is just to be calm," Grant said about his first season of college football. "You can't go out there scared or worried. Just be calm. Be in your playbook so you can play fast. Other guys are depending on you."

A dream season on many fronts, Grant had a couple memorable moments in particular.

"Personally, my favorite moment was the USF game in the last drive I forced a fumble," he said. "That was the best moment for me the whole season. As a team, the Auburn game obviously. When we beat them, we shut a lot of haters up."

Grant said it's been a smooth transition learning the new defense under Randy Shannon.

"I've got to give all the props to my teammates," he said. "We've done a real good job buying in. I knew we would. It was a little of a rocky start, but we've done a real good job just buying in. It's not really much of a difference I would say with the staff, it's just adjusting to how they coach and what they want from us. Everybody is buying in. We've got one goal. We just want to go 1-0 every week. That's what everybody's mentality is."

Josh Heupel recently complimented the secondary for the work they put in during the summer and in this early part of camp.

"We've just been doing a good job communicated and talking to each other," Grant said. "In the film room, just fixing mistakes. We're playmakers already, so just put us in the right spot and we'll make a play."

With a few departures from last year's defense, UCF needs some players to step up. There's a couple that have already caught Grant's eye.

"Dyllon Lester, a freshman," Grant said. "He's probably gonna be really big for us this year. He's been doing a really good job this camp. He listens and he's buying in. He's already a good athlete. He's been playing primarily nickel. Aaron Cochran has been dominating up front. I don't want to say anything bad, but this is an Aaron Cochran we've never seen before."

Grant can't wait for the season start, which is just a little more than three weeks away.

"I'm just trying to maximize and excel in my role and be there for my teammates," Grant said. "Whenever they call my name, I want to make a play. I just want to go 1-0 every week."