CB Grant Haley making a name for himself at his mother’s alma mater
October 9, 2015 12:00 AM
By Audrey Snyder / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Grant Haley sat in the passenger seat of the rental car, looking out the window while his mother tried to get her bearings.
It was late on a chilly January night, mother and son driving on a winding road from the University Park airport to Penn State’s campus. Haley’s mom, who attended Penn State in the 1980s and watched games on TV since then, hadn’t been back to her alma mater in 20-plus years. Grant, a three-star cornerback from The Lovett School in Atlanta, Ga., had about 20 days to make his college decision.
As lost as they thought they were — both on the road toward campus and with a 2½-year recruiting process that was turned upside down after James Franklin left Vanderbilt where Grant planned to go — Haley then saw the lights.
“He’s like, ‘Mom, are those the stadium lights over there?’ ” Carla Neal-Haley, recalled. “I’m like, ‘Grant, no, nobody leaves lights on at this time of night in the offseason because it’s too expensive.’
“He kept tapping me on the shoulder and kept saying, ‘Mom, I think it really is the stadium lights.’ ... All of a sudden my mouth kind of just dropped open, and I looked up and he was like completely enamored. He was sold I think the minute he saw Beaver Stadium.”
Gone were thoughts of playing in the Southeastern Conference and forget that his first scholarship offer came from the Florida Gators — and that his high school coach, Mike Muschamp, is the brother of Will Muschamp, who at the time was Florida’s head coach and now is Auburn’s defensive coordinator.
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October 9, 2015 12:00 AM
By Audrey Snyder / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
0
inShare
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Grant Haley sat in the passenger seat of the rental car, looking out the window while his mother tried to get her bearings.
It was late on a chilly January night, mother and son driving on a winding road from the University Park airport to Penn State’s campus. Haley’s mom, who attended Penn State in the 1980s and watched games on TV since then, hadn’t been back to her alma mater in 20-plus years. Grant, a three-star cornerback from The Lovett School in Atlanta, Ga., had about 20 days to make his college decision.
As lost as they thought they were — both on the road toward campus and with a 2½-year recruiting process that was turned upside down after James Franklin left Vanderbilt where Grant planned to go — Haley then saw the lights.
“He’s like, ‘Mom, are those the stadium lights over there?’ ” Carla Neal-Haley, recalled. “I’m like, ‘Grant, no, nobody leaves lights on at this time of night in the offseason because it’s too expensive.’
“He kept tapping me on the shoulder and kept saying, ‘Mom, I think it really is the stadium lights.’ ... All of a sudden my mouth kind of just dropped open, and I looked up and he was like completely enamored. He was sold I think the minute he saw Beaver Stadium.”
Gone were thoughts of playing in the Southeastern Conference and forget that his first scholarship offer came from the Florida Gators — and that his high school coach, Mike Muschamp, is the brother of Will Muschamp, who at the time was Florida’s head coach and now is Auburn’s defensive coordinator.
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