Grant starting to explore

Jake Grant has his a perfectly suitable scholarship offer. He's happy with it, too. The things the 6-foot-4 offensive tackle says about gathering more invitations aren't slights to Utah. It's just that he, like everyone else, wants options. He knows new opportunities are coming.

For now, the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Horizon junior is just bracing for impact. Listing the schools he says have expressed serious interest in his services would leave an elderly person out of breath.

"Since Sept. 1, it's been a lot more Facebook," Grant said. "A lot of letters, too. Arizona State, Arizona, Washington, Boise State, Colorado, Michigan State, Auburn, Arkansas, California …."

Grant is fresh off of an unofficial visit to USC, during which he took in the Trojans' game against Washington State. The result wasn't exactly what he'd envisioned, but the state of the USC program isn't something he's too concerned with.

Not yet anyway.

"Obviously, USC is a powerhouse in the west," Grant said. "Academically, they're pretty good too. That's why I like USC. You can't get much better than Southern California. They lost, but that's not going to change my opinion.

"Until (Lane Kiffin) gets fired - if he does - I'm not really going to worry about it."

So Grant will move through his recruitment evaluating things as they are, not as they might be months down the road. For now he's weighing options and building relationships. Some bonds are stronger than others already. Asked which college coaches he currently feels closest with, Grant gives a direct answer.

"Definitely Coach [Dan] Finn at Utah and Coach [Brad] Salem at Michigan State," Grant said. "Coach Salem was probably one of the first coaches to actually recruitment me. Last spring, he was one of the first coaches to visit me at school."

Grant doesn't enjoy speculating on where his next offer might come from. When pressed, he says Arizona State or Michigan State, though, he doesn't say it with much certainty.

He sounds more sure of himself when he begins to discuss criteria. All of the standard recruiting clichés will factor into his eventual decisions. The one thing that won't matter, though, is proximity to home.

"It doesn't matter at all," Grant said. "Obviously family is important, but they would support my decision to go anywhere. It's not a big deal for me to stay close to home."