On the day Ohio State was selected to play in the first-ever College Football Playoff, Doran Grant hadn't even seen film of Alabama yet but had a slight grin on his face when asked about his matchup with Amari Cooper, the Crimson Tide's superstar wide receiver.
“I know he’s a great receiver, a very polished receiver. He has big-play ability," Grant said. "I’m looking forward to the matchup, honestly."
Cooper's storybook season — and career, really — has been well-documented. He literally owns or shares every major Alabama receiving record: career-, single-season and single-game receptions; career-, single-season and single-game receiving yards; and career-, single-season and single-game receiving touchdowns.
His 2014 statline: 115 catches for 1,656 yards and 14 touchdowns.
His career numbers: 219 catches for 3,392 yards and 29 touchdowns.
It's no wonder Cooper was the first wide receiver to be invited to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist since Larry Fitzgerald went way back in 2003.
“Cooper, he's one of the best receivers ever to play college football," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said recently during the Sugar Bowl teleconference.
Grant will certainly have his hands full trying to shut down the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Cooper, but the senior cornerback from Akron welcomes the challenge of going up against other team's top options. Grant was more than up to the task in his one-on-one battle with Michigan State's Tony Lippett back on Nov. 8.
Lippett, the recipient of the Big Ten's Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year Award, finished the year with 60 catches for 1,124 yards and 11 touchdowns. But he was a complete non-factor against the Buckeyes.
Ohio State usually likes its corners to play field and boundary sides, but against the Spartans, Grant shadowed Lippett around for the majority of the game. In doing so, Lippett was held to just five catches for 64 yards. It was one of only three games this year Lippett failed to reach the end zone.
But with all due respect to Lippett, he is not Cooper. Frankly, no one is.
"I’m not sure how we’re going to handle everything yet, but I’m looking forward to going against a great team, period," Grant said.
Alabama will do just about anything to get Cooper involved in the offense. The Crimson Tide have a variety of ways to get the football in the hands of their best playmaker.
"They use him at every possible — they use him as a matchup guy in screens and quick screens," Meyer said. "Also, obviously he's the best downfield threat there is in the game right now.”
The Buckeyes will surely do their best to give Grant some help by rolling safeties over to his side and using the occasional double team. But even Grant knows the matchup is not between he and Cooper, it's between Ohio State and Alabama for the right to play for a national championship.
“No. 1 seed and we’re the No. 4 seed so it’s two top-four teams going head-to-head," Grant said. "That’s what the whole country wants to see and that’s what they’re gonna get.”
