MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. – Most of the excitement surrounding Ohio State in southern California this week has been centered on Quinn Ewers, the five-star quarterback commit competing in the Elite 11 Finals.
Kiyon Grayes, though, has begun to stand out in his own right. The four-star wide receiver pledge arrived this week for the The Opening 7-on-7 Invitational, which runs from Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. He won several one-on-ones early in the day in front of Stefon Diggs and Chase Claypool, among other pros, during training camp then pulled down a couple of touchdowns at night when the 7-on-7 portion got underway.
In the afternoon, just after the training camp portion of The Opening, he took some time to catch up with Eleven Warriors. We spoke about a wide range of topics, including buying in to competing in a loaded wide receiver room, his recruiting effort, his senior season goals at Chandler High School in Arizona and much more.
Here's our conversation which was lightly edited for clarity.
11W: What do your pitches look like to other guys here at The Opening to get them to join you at Ohio State?
KG: “It's really just showing them what we're about, what we do and encouraging those guys to be there with us. Like someone like X (Xavier Nwanpka), we always talk to him. We're always telling him where he wants to be, where he should be and all that. It's just showing them where they should be and building that bond and that brotherhood.”
When you say always, how frequent is your communication with Nwanpka?
“I mean, I'm always telling him how ugly he looks in every other uniform, so I mean, it's pretty frequent for me. CJ, too. CJ, you know, that's Captain Buckeye, so we're always on the recruitment. And, I mean, I always tell him every day, 'You know where you want to be.' It goes like that.”
Is there anyone else here who y'all have your eyes on?
“Really, I have to look again. I completely forgot. I take like a little one-day break and everything goes. Because we have three commits coming. I'm like, ‘Oh my God.’”
What's it like catching passes from Quinn here?
“Oh, it's beautiful. It's such a great thing. The ball's always where it needs to be.”
How many times did you guys throw?
“I think we went three times, three, four. We ran multiple different routes. I went from a slot to outside, everywhere. We didn't get to run the last one – we were going to run a fade, just take off the top – but we ran a seam and everything was just flawless. It was great.”
Three for three?
“Yeah. No drops. I had one miss. It was high and me and the DB slipped because, you know, the field's like that. But one miss out of like five, six. I feel like today was a pretty productive day, but that one is always going to linger for me.”
Had you caught passes from him before?
“Never. Never. This is my first time. Literally my first time ever, and I was happy.”
Had you ever met him in person?
“Oh, yeah. On my visit I met him.”
Obviously he's a great quarterback. What makes him special?
“For one, his mind. Two, how precise his balls can be. No matter how far down the field you are, it's going to be there. Right there. It's money all the time, too. Obviously we've only had one day. I'm always going to say he's great. It's as simple as that. Everyone knows he great, but I'm always going to say he's great. He's beyond great.”
Quinn has the No. 1 ranking next to his name. Do you guys talk about Quinn in a different way or is he just another guy?
“Quinn is that one guy that you would never know is the No. 1 player in the nation until you looked at your phone and you saw the NFL post about him. He's such a good person, so humble. It's all that. There's no more you can say about it.”
What about the hair?
“Oh, the hair is great. You've just got to flip it one time.”
You'll be coming into an Ohio State wide receiver room the way that Brian Hartline's been recruiting. Why is that right for you? Because I'm sure some people look at that and say, maybe I can get playing time quicker or earlier somewhere else.
“Because if my skillset can't match up with theirs, then what am I doing? That's what I look at it as. It's as simple as that. If my skillset doesn't match up with those guys, then what am I doing? Those guys are always going to push me every day to become a better version of myself on and off the field. Like I said, if I'm not keeping up with their game, there's something wrong with me.”
Is that a view you've always had, or is it something that the more and more you've talked to Hartline it becomes something you really believe?
“Oh, I mean, it's always been something like that. I go to a high school where they will sit me if I mess up. I mean, now it's not really the same because I'm a senior...”
C.J. Hicks walks by the interview and leans in to say, "Go Bucks."
“...Being a younger guy as a sophomore, I was third string. Once I left, I went for camp and I told my dad, 'Once I come down, I'm going to have my starting spot,' and I went from third string to first string in a week. So it kind of shows that's something I've built. I always want to be challenged.”
Is that approach, the way Ohio State tries to recruit with the competition, a little bit different than others?
“Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, the one thing I love about coach Hart and the whole coaching staff, they never promised me a thing. That's what I want. I want a coach to be real with me. I don't want them to tell me that I'm going to come in and play for them right away, blah, blah, all this, all that extra stuff. I want to know the real behind it – how hard it's going to be, all that. He told me it's not easy. Boom, there we go. That's all I need to know.”
When he talks about it not being easy, what does he say is so difficult?
“It's really just the work. The work you've got to put in. There's a lot to it and there's a lot of competition and you've got to work.”
What does your next year look like? What are you going to try to improve before getting to Columbus?
“Really, I want to drop 1,000 (yards). I mean, right now I dropped 800 my sophomore year, I dropped 500 a basically half season off of 28 catches. So, I mean, I was to break that K and do what I do and just finish off strong because every year I've left something on the table and I want to make sure that this year is finished.”
Is there any specific part of your game that you look at and say, this is what I need to improve the most?
“I'd say finishing my blocks sometimes. Our coach preaches blocks a lot, and I feel like for me, the size that I am, I'm a pretty good blocker. Most schools don't block, but that's one thing we preach. Another thing, my top-ends. Sometimes those turn into four steps. Sometimes they turn into more and I realize. So those are things I talk to coach Hart about a lot.”
