For UK’s Eddie Gran, season’s first challenge is a tough defense at his former home
When Kentucky football plays at eighth-ranked Auburn on Saturday, it will be a homecoming of sorts for Eddie Gran.
Kentucky’s offensive coordinator may be a California native, but he spent a decade of his young coaching life in the Loveliest Village on the Plains. Long before running as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Doug Jones, head coach Tommy Tuberville was his boss. As running backs coach, Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams were two of Gran’s more famous products.
“They were 10 of as good a years that you can have,” Gran said Tuesday. “Being in the SEC, raising my family there.”
When Tuberville resigned after the 2008 season, Gran moved on to Tennessee and then Florida State, where he met a young defensive coordinator named Mark Stoops. After reuniting with Tuberville for three seasons as the offensive coordinator at Cincinnati, Gran was lured by Stoops to Lexington in 2016.
Now he’s returning to Auburn not as the promising young offensive assistant for the home team but as the 55-year-old offensive coordinator for the opponent, one who during his time at UK has shown an amazing ability to rip up the play sheet and start all over again.
Gran did it his first season as Stoops’ OC when starting quarterback Drew Barker left with a back injury the third game of the season and did not return. Stephen Johnson, a little-known junior-college quarterback who arrived on campus just eight months before, took over. The Wildcats ended up winning seven games, reaching their first bowl game since 2010.
Three years later, it happened again. This time, starting quarterback Terry Wilson suffered a torn patellar tendon the second game of the season and did not return. After backup Sawyer Smith was also banged up, Gran moved wide receiver Lynn Bowden to quarterback and off they went. With Bowden at the helm, Kentucky won six of eight games, including a 37-30 victory over Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.
Now Bowden is in the NFL and Wilson is back in the saddle. Balance has been the fall camp buzz word, but with a terrific offensive line that returns four starters, plus a stable of good running backs, you can bet the ground game remains prominent on Gran’s play sheet.
“Big men lead the way,” as he likes to say.
Auburn’s defense will be a tough first 2020 test. The Tigers lost three players who were among the top 50 NFL Draft selections — defensive tackle Derrick Brown to Carolina at No. 7; cornerback Noah Igbinoghene to Miami at No. 30; defensive end Marlon Davidson to Atlanta at No. 47 — from a defense that ranked 17th nationally in points allowed last year. But 62-year-old Kevin Steele is a veteran defensive coordinator with young talent anxious to fill those roles.
“They know what to do and they’re fast and they’re long,” Gran said Tuesday. “Coach Steele does a great job of mixing thing up and he’s a heck of a football coach. They’ve got a lot of speed and talent on that defense. I’m excited about the challenge.”
That’s not the only thing he’s excited about.
“I get to go see my daughter, Lucy,” Gran said. “She’s 13, uh 15 — gosh oh mighty, she’s 15 now, she’ll be driving in a month. So I’m excited about that.”
Gran’s former wife, Rosemary, and three daughters live in Alabama. A fourth daughter, Sydney, passed away in 2005 at age 5 from Holoprosencephaly complications. The Grans established the Sydney Gran Family Fund in her honor.
“Some friends will be there,” Gran said. “I won’t be able to see them. Some guys are still on parts of the administration and staff there that I’ll get to see. It was a great 10 years. You stay somewhere 10 years and that’s an absolute blessing in this league.”
“But I’m Big Blue Nation now all the way. This is the best place.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 4:54 PM.
