Granger getting it done for CCU

On a team loaded with star power, a couple national player of the year candidates and a bevy of stat producers, junior kicker Ryan Granger continues to find a way to stand out.

He has been named the Big South special teams player of the week two weeks in a row, ranks among the NCAA FCS leaders in several categories and is on pace to challenge several program records.

Which is quite a statement for a player who says he had few college football offers coming out of high school.

“I didn’t really have the greatest high school football career, but I think I definitely improved during the spring going into college,” Granger recalled. “I had to learn how to kick off the ground because in high school you’re allowed to kick off the tee. That was a big transition I had to learn how to deal with. I went to a couple camps and I just had to try to film as much practice as possible and send it out to any coaches I could and hopefully someone would give me a call back.”

Fortunately for Coastal Carolina, former assistant coach Brock Olivo took notice and offered Granger a preferred walk-on spot, and as the No. 1/2-ranked Chanticleers visit No. 19/24 Charleston Southern on Saturday, the standout kicker now returns home as one of the key cogs on a team with legitimate FCS national championship hopes.

“This is all I ever wanted to do this season,” Granger said of his strong start. “I just keep hoping I can stay consistent as I am and hope the rest of the season goes just as good.”

Granger’s performance is all the Chants could have hoped for as well.

In his first season as a starter, he has converted 13-of-15 field goals and is tied for second in the FCS in field goals per game (1.86), second in points per game among kickers (9.4), tied for sixth in scoring among all players and 13th in field goal percentage (86.7 percent).

Last week at Monmouth, Granger kicked a game-winning 30-yard field goal as time expired to send the Chants to a 23-20 win and was 3-for-3 on field goals overall in the game.

The previous game, he was also 3-for-3 and scored a rushing touchdown on a fake field goal play in a 24-17 win over Presbyterian.

“I have total confidence,” Chants coach Joe Moglia said. “... He has been doing a good job and he’s been making his kicks consistently. He does that in practice, he [does it] in the games and we know we can count on him.

“You’ve got a feeling of security that you know you’re able to go to.”

Most importantly, Granger has that confidence in himself.

As he watched the Coastal Carolina offense drive down the field in the final minutes last Saturday to set him up for his first-ever chance at a game-winning field goal, he stuck to his routine on the sideline, going through his steps and trying to stay calm for one of the bigger moments of his collegiate career.

“That’s all you can really do at that point,” he said. “... I think the best thing [for a kicker] is believing you can make every kick, having the confidence to go out there and make a kick you know you need to make. I think that definitely is what makes a kicker good.”

Granger, who is 18-of-21 on field goals and 29-of-29 on PATs for his collegiate career, has proven to be quite a find for the Chants and is on pace to challenge program records for career field goal percentage (held by Alex Catron at 68 percent), single-season field goal percentage (set at 76 percent by Catron), single-season field goals (15, set by Catron) and career PAT percentage (set at 96.7 percent by Josh Hoke).

And he’s already set one school record by converting 10 straight field goals.

Which is all the more impressive considering Coastal Carolina was one of the only college programs to show interest in the kicker coming out of Fort Dorchester High School.

“I think my mom sent out [highlight DVDs] to every single college she could. It didn’t matter if it was FBS, FCS, DI, DII, didn’t matter. Just anywhere,” Granger recalled.

Who could have imagined where that would lead him, on a record-setting pace for the No. 1 ranked team in the FCS?

“I feel like my work definitely is showing, but I don’t think I ever would have imagined anything as good as this season has been going,” he said.

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 9:24 PM with the headline "Granger getting it done for CCU."