Jairus Grissom River Rouge
One of the players who is seeing his stock rise steadily this winter is River Rouge quarterback prospect Jairus Grissom. I was able to catch up with this dynamic playmaker and get the latest details on his recruitment.
Grissom recently picked up scholarship offers from schools such as Syracuse, Rutgers and Western Michigan. He now has 16 scholarship offers on the table and will certainly have over 20 before long. Rivals.com currently ranks the 6-foot-3. 210-pound Grissom a 3-star recruit and the No. 13 prospect in the state of Michigan for the class of 2017.
The last few weeks Grissom has been busy visiting several of the schools that are showing him a high-level of interest. He was at Michigan State last week for the basketball game and then traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, over the weekend to check out the Hoosiers.
Grissom indicated that he has had contact with Coach Blackwell, Coach Salem and Coach Samuel from Michigan State. He talked about his plans for upcoming visits and his thoughts on the Michigan State program.
“I will visit Syracuse University and Purdue this weekend,” he said. “Michigan State is recruiting me heavy and they want me back up for a practice in April. I like Michigan State, they have a great program.”
Though his recruitment is taking off, don’t expect Grissom to make a decision anytime soon. At this point he is still learning what schools have to offer, building rapport with coaches and seeing what other schools still may offer him a scholarship.
“I plan on making my decision next February around National Signing Day,” he said. “I am looking to build a relationship with the coaches. The most important thing is the academics and my chances to play early. I am going to look at the rotation.”
Grissom plans on attending some camps and combines this spring and summer. It is very likely that Spartan quarterback coach Brad Salem will want to see Grissom at camp so he can work with him closely and the staff can make the best possible evaluation.
Grissom is excited about his senior season. Last fall he played for Dearborn Heights Robichaud and he threw for 2,624 yards and accounted for 39 total touchdowns while leading his team to a 8-3 record. This year he will be at River Rouge. The Panthers went 12-2 last fall and lost in the state championship to Grand Rapids West Catholic. With Grissom coming in, River Rouge will be viewed as one of the favorites to return to Ford Field.
The big question from Michigan State’s perspective is whether they see him as a quarterback or as an athlete at the next level. That may not be decided until June when the Spartans have him at camp.
Grissom reminds me a lot of Hines Ward as a prospect. Ward was a quarterback in high school and played some there at Georgia his freshman and sophomore seasons before making the switch full time to wide receiver. He went one to catch 1,000 passes in the NFL and is a sure fire Hall of Fame selection.
Matt Dorsey is a recruiting analsyt for SpartanMag.com and Rivals.com