Flushing<\/a> high school.<\/p>\n\u201cDevin played on the varsity football team from sophomore year onward,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe was a captain in his senior year and had extremely high football IQ. He was extremely talented and it always felt like he had the ability to play high in college football and possibly\u00a0 in the NFL. So this really doesn\u2019t come as a surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoly Cross has never been the type of football program that had sophomores on varsity,\u201d Smith continued. \u201cSo for him to be a starter and a two-way starter as a sophomore of varsity, that\u2019s a big accomplishment in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant accepted an offer to play football at the University of Buffalo after leaving Holy Cross in 2022 before transferring to Syracuse University two years later.
\n![\"Grant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-30-at-13.50.49-1.jpeg\")
Grant with Smith after choosing Buffalo. Photo via Tim Smith\n<\/p>\n
Grant\u2019s senior-year season was disrupted by injuries, resulting in just six starts in his final year at Syracuse.<\/p>\n
But Smith, who has remained in contact with Grant since his departure from Holy Cross, believes that Grant will do the necessary work to earn a roster place at the Chargers.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be willing to do all of the things that\u2019s necessary to get a roster spot,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd I think Devin is willing to do that. His talent is definitely going to show, but opportunities are going to come with the work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant is not the first Holy Cross alumni to make it to the NFL, with several former students making the transition to the big leagues. Smith, however, said he views his former players reaching their \u201cfull potential\u201d as a true marker of success, not whether they receive an\u00a0 NFL contract or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate that I\u2019ve coached a number of kids that have gone and signed NFL contracts,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I will say it\u2019s not necessarily the fact that they signed NFL contracts that makes it a blessing to me. It\u2019s just them going on to reach their full potential as young men, and it doesn\u2019t matter whether they make the NFL. If they get a great college experience, if they go on to be have a quality life\u2026 that\u2019s just as rewarding for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant is even following in the footsteps of his uncle Dean Marlowe, a former student at Holy Cross who enjoyed a nine-year career in the NFL across a number of franchises, ending in a stint with the Chargers in 2023. Smith credited Grant for sharing his uncle\u2019s work ethic.<\/p>\n
Smith added that Grant had turned down several suitors to sign for the Chargers, with the LA sunshine proving an added bonus for a player who had spent his college career in Upstate New York.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to go somewhere warm,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAfter being in the cold weather for his entire football career, he was looking to go somewhere where the climate was going to be a little different. So the situation with the Chargers really worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devin Grant with Holy Cross varsity coach Tim Smith after signing with the LA Chargers. Photo via Tim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[8918,85105,11979,85106,85107,9,24,22,63,122,124,123,85108],"class_list":["post-215708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-american-football","tag-devin-grant","tag-football","tag-holy-cross-high-school","tag-la-chargers","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nfl","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-tim-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Devin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-30-at-13.50.49-e1777572081691.jpeg\")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n