Back on his feet

EVERETT – Jerrel Grant is not slow. John Madden is slow.

Still, after his first football game of the season, Grant, a senior at Mariner High School, was less than enthused by his speed. A single annoying thought repeatedly pounded in Grant’s head: “I was like, ‘Dang! I’m slow,’” said the 6-foot-2, 186-pound wingback/safety.

To be fair, Grant had just returned from two major injuries to his right foot: he fractured his fifth metatarsal bone Oct. 21, 2005 in a football game against Shorecrest, then broke the exact same bone a little more than three months later at basketball practice.

Grant, a gifted hurdler who missed most of the basketball season and the whole track slate, wasn’t fully cleared to compete again until the second week of football practice. But, bit by bit, he has returned to form. By his fourth game, it all clicked.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s coming back now. I’m ready,’” Grant said.

Grant is back, and so is Mariner.

After enduring a comparatively rough 2005 season (4-5 in the Western Conference South Division, 4-6 overall), Mariner is off to a superb start, thanks largely to contributors like Grant. The Marauders, 3-1 in division play, improved to 4-1 overall on Friday with a 27-21 non-division, overtime victory over Snohomish. The Marauders’ only loss was by one point to undefeated Edmonds-Woodway, ranked No. 5 in the Class 4A WashingtonPreps.com poll.

Mariner started as many as seven sophomores last season, but now those once-overmatched players have the experience and confidence to excel at the varsity level. And with junior quarterback Tyler Tuiasosopo surrounded by running backs Grant, Mike Schmaus and Matt Jones, Mariner wields one of the most balanced offenses in the area.

“We just have a lot more weapons this year,” said Schmaus, who has rushed for 470 yards and eight TDs. He’s one of four Mariner backs who have run for at least 135 yards and average more than 7 yards per attempt.

“Everybody had us ranked low,” Grant said of where Mariner placed in preseason coaches’ polls, “(but) I knew we were one of the top teams.”

“It’s fun. The kids are enjoying themselves,” Mariner coach John Ondriezek said.

No one’s having more fun than Grant. He has consistently improved since rejoining the team and came up with his best effort of the season against Snohomish. Grant rushed 12 times for 62 yards, caught four passes for 89 yards (including a 52-yard reception that set up Mariner’s first touchdown) and made a season-high 17 tackles (12 solo, five assists).

“It was by far his best game of the year,” Ondriezek said. “We’re real pleased, and he’ll just keep getting better every week.”

That bodes extremely well for Mariner, which plays Shorecrest (1-4, 1-4) on Friday.

Grant said his recovery from the twice-injured foot was very difficult. The usually lean, all-around athlete gained nearly 30 pounds while he relied on crutches and waited to heal.

“He (basically) spent his whole junior year in a cast and on crutches,” Ondriezek said of Grant, who had a screw surgically implanted in his right foot last spring and fought through significant pain to get back on the field this fall.

“Now he has the confidence back. He was a little tentative in making his cuts offensively and coming up on the ball (on defense) but now he’s just back to the way he was,” Ondriezek said.

Grant has shown exciting potential in football, basketball and track. In the latter sport, he advanced to the Class 4A state meet in the 300-meter hurdles as a sophomore. He said football is currently his favorite sport, and Ondriezek says Grant has a chance to play after high school. The resilient senior is reliable but he’s “not a real flashy runner. He’s just very deceptive because he has a long stride.”

Grant could evolve into an outstanding receiver at the next level, Ondriezek said: “He has excellent hands.”

“I think he has a lot of opportunities ahead of him,” Ondriezek said. “We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

The same goes for the surging Mariner football team.