Devin Grant with Holy Cross varsity coach Tim Smith after signing with the LA Chargers.
Photo via Tim Smith
Former Holy Cross High School student Devin Grant has signed with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent.
Grant, a safety who graduated from Holy Cross in 2022, signed with the Chargers on Saturday after receiving offers from the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks, according to reports.
Tim Smith, Grant’s varsity coach at Holy Cross, said he was not surprised that Grant had made it to the NFL, recalling his time at the Flushing high school.
“Devin played on the varsity football team from sophomore year onward,” Smith said. “He 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 in the NFL. So this really doesn’t come as a surprise.
“Holy Cross has never been the type of football program that had sophomores on varsity,” Smith continued. “So for him to be a starter and a two-way starter as a sophomore of varsity, that’s a big accomplishment in itself.”
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.
Grant’s senior-year season was disrupted by injuries, resulting in just six starts in his final year at Syracuse.
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.
“You have to be willing to do all of the things that’s necessary to get a roster spot,” Smith said. “And 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.”
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 “full potential” as a true marker of success, not whether they receive an NFL contract or not.
“I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve coached a number of kids that have gone and signed NFL contracts,” he said. “But I will say it’s not necessarily the fact that they signed NFL contracts that makes it a blessing to me. It’s just them going on to reach their full potential as young men, and it doesn’t matter whether they make the NFL. If they get a great college experience, if they go on to have a quality life… that’s just as rewarding for me.”
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’s work ethic.
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.
“He wanted to go somewhere warm,” Smith said. “After 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.”
