{"id":475479,"date":"2026-09-25T16:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T16:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475479\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T16:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T16:40:11","slug":"ex-sanger-standout-making-plays-at-fresno-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475479\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex\u2011Sanger standout making plays at Fresno City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/McGre_fitted.jpeg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"674\" title=\"Fresno City College DB Kayden McGrew, formerly of Sanger High\" alt=\"Fresno City College DB Kayden McGrew, formerly of Sanger High\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Fresno City College DB Kayden McGrew, formerly of Sanger High<\/p>\n<p>            FRESNO CITY COLLEGE<\/p>\n<p>Kayden McGrew had a highlight he wished had stood.<\/p>\n<p>The Fresno City College kickoff returner took a kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back because of a holding penalty during the Rams\u2019 34-31 loss to Butte on Sept. 19.<\/p>\n<p>McGrew finished the game with five kickoff returns for 138 yards, including a long of 45 yards.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019ll look to build on that performance when the Rams host American River at 5 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Bee caught up with the former Sanger High standout to discuss his first season at Fresno City College and more.<\/p>\n<p>Question: Tell me about that kickoff return you had. It looked great on film, but it was called back.<\/p>\n<p>Kayden McGrew: I\u2019ll continue to make those types of plays. Getting it called back did hurt a little, but at the end of the day, I know I can make plays like that happen again and again throughout the season. I\u2019m just glad I have the film to show that I can make those plays, even with the call being brought back.<\/p>\n<p>Q: What have you learned about playing JUCO football at Fresno City? Did anything surprise you?<\/p>\n<p>KM: Coming into my first year of JUCO, my mindset was to be elite the moment I stepped on that field, and I still stand by that. I\u2019ve learned that the game is faster and everyone is competing every day, so you have to stay focused, work hard and take advantage of every opportunity you get.<\/p>\n<p>Q: Tough loss last week, but what can you guys do to use that as motivation for the rest of the season?<\/p>\n<p>KM: We\u2019ll continue to improve. I feel like we get better every day, especially at practice. Now that we\u2019ve experienced that loss, we can learn from it and use it as motivation. We know what we need to fix, and we\u2019re going to keep working to get better for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Q: How was your time at Sanger High? What memories do you take away from there?<\/p>\n<p>KM: I definitely miss the community and the energy we had at the stadium on Friday nights. It was always amazing playing in front of everyone and building a name for myself there. I\u2019m proud of everything I was able to accomplish at Sanger, and I\u2019m excited to see my little brother, Kendale McGrew, continue that now.<\/p>\n<p>Q: What do you want to prove at Fresno City College?<\/p>\n<p>KM: What I want to prove as a student-athlete here at Fresno City is that all the sacrifices and hard work my parents have put into me were worth it. I want to show that I have what it takes to get to the next level, continue getting better and make the most of every opportunity I get.<\/p>\n<p>Q: What\u2019s on your pregame playlist?<\/p>\n<p>KM: Believe it or not, I\u2019m more of a calm guy before games. I like to relax, stay focused and remind myself who I\u2019m doing it for before the game starts. That usually gets me in the right mindset to go out there and compete.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Fresno Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218450935\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790354411_381_Anthony Galaviz headshot.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Anthony Galaviz\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/profile\/218450935\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Anthony Galaviz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n<p>            Anthony Galaviz writes about breaking news\/sports for The Fresno Bee. He covers the Las Vegas Raiders, high schools, boxing, MMA and junior colleges. He\u2019s been with The Bee since 1997 and attended Fresno City College before graduating from Fresno State with a major in journalism and a minor in criminology.\u00a0<br \/>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnobee.com\/subscribe&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;&#009;\" style=\"color: #5169B8; text-transform: none;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Support my work with a digital subscription<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno City College DB Kayden McGrew, formerly of Sanger High FRESNO CITY COLLEGE Kayden McGrew had a highlight&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-475479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}