By Tiffany Williams –
This Saturday the Rhode Island Rams will travel to Hampton, Virginia for a matchup with the Hampton Pirates, and when the Rams run out onto the field at Armstrong Stadium number four Malik Grant will take to the field with his team.
Running back Malik Grant, a transfer from Sacred Heart just two weeks ago, had three rushing touchdowns in the Rams 28-21 win against the Long Island Sharks, and Grant’s first rushing touchdown in the opening quarter was his first as a Ram. He finished with 20 carries for 141 yards and became the first Ram to rush for three scores since Ja’Den McKenzie against North Carolina A&T on October 28, 2023.
But going into the matchup against the Sharks, Grant was no stranger to the Sharks. Just two years ago, in 2022, while playing for Sacred Heart, Grant had two rushing touchdowns against the Sharks, but Sacred Heart lost that game 37-34. Three years ago, November 20, 2021, Sacred Heart grabbed a 38-14 win against the Sharks, and in that matchup, Grant had three rushing touchdowns.
In collegiate football, Grant has proven to be an impactful player with 737 carries for 3,581 yards and 30 rushing touchdowns. He also has four receiving touchdowns.
During the CAA Football coaches weekly conference call on September 23, I asked URIs Head Coach Jim Fleming about Malik and Jim said, “Yeah, I mean, you know, he came in from Sacred Heart, you know, was one of those guys that immediately came in and was embraced by our team. He’s got a great personality.” Fleming also called Malik “A very good football player.”
Coach Fleming also said that Malik had great physical talents, and he always felt Malik was one of those kinds of backs, “You just got to continue to feed, and he’s going to make something happen.”
Against the Sharks on September 21, Coach Fleming says Malik ran with passion and came into the game with an extremely good focus.
Coach Fleming also said, “Some of the stuff, I mean, he ran very, very hard, very effective.”
During my conversation with Malik after the weekly coaches call, I asked about his most recent game against the Sharks and a very calm and humbling Malik told me, “Yeah. In the first quarter, that was my first touchdown that I scored as being a Ram. You know, it was a long time coming, I would say, but I couldn’t have gotten that touchdown without that. You know, throughout that whole first job, we scored in about what, four plays? I think everyone was doing their job, and everyone was on top of what they wanted to do. And we just came out firing, and it took us four plays to go down and score. And the big guys up front, you know, without them, I wouldn’t have scored that touchdown. It opened up a very big hole for me to run through, and that’s how it was possible for me to get that touchdown. So definitely all props to those guys up front.”
When I asked Malik about carrying the ball 20 times for 141 yards and becoming the first URI player to rush for three scores since Jaden McKenzie did against North Carolina A&T on October 20th, 2023, Malik replied, “Obviously, it felt great. It felt amazing. You know, coming to a new school, finally playing a game, like just finally playing with the guys that I’ve been around for months on top of months now, you know, finally being able to get into the end zone and help the team in a way on offense, you know, because I haven’t really been able to do that throughout the first three games. So just being able to help the team as much as possible and getting in the end zone, you know, that was just a big factor for me and, you know, it was just a great feeling to be able to help my teammates. And yeah, I would say it was just a great feeling to help my team win that game.”
When asked what Coach Fleming said to him after the win against the Sharks, Malik said, “He just said the most simplest thing, like, great job running the ball today. You know, we got to keep it going.”
Before coming to play football at two of New England’s D1 collegiate football programs, Malik grew up in the Bronx section of New York City, or Uptown on the 5 train line by Boston Road and Dyre Avenue.
Growing up there, Malik says it was tough. “You’re surrounded by a lot of gang violence, a lot of like projects, a lot of different things, you know, not really having a whole lot growing up. So just really that, just like the greediness, the grind, and just like literally really just getting it out the mud, just finding a way no matter what.”
High school is when Malik first started playing football. His freshman year was when he first tried out. His middle school basketball coach, Mr. Henry, a mentor to Malik, told him he was going to make it in one sport, one way or the other. So Malik believed in him, believed in what Mr. Henry was saying, and when Malik realized that he said, “I actually kept playing football and I was good at it or somewhat good at it, and, you know, I’m not the tallest guy, but I’m not too short either. So I was like, OK, I think I might really have a shot at this football thing. So it really motivated me to, you know, take it very seriously, put the work in day in and day out. And, you know, you need grades for football in order to play in college, to go to Division One. So it also motivated me to be better in school as well, you know, and just my family as well. Just knowing that they’re not in the best situations possible, like even me growing up, just football was a big motivational factor for me to just, you know, push myself even harder because I want to put my family in the best possible situation.”
Mr. Henry, Malik said, still stays in contact with him, texting him sometimes on Instagram. Malik also still goes back to that Bronx neighborhood he grew up in, and when I asked what advice he gives to the younger kids when he goes back home, Malik replied, “I say I give the kids and people, some of my friends even that’s back home, I just say don’t ever give up on yourself. I’ve had doubts before, like we’re all human beings, but don’t ever give up on nothing that you guys put your mind to or that you guys want to achieve. Because I believe in them and I believe in everyone that we can all achieve anything that we put our minds to, that we set out to achieve. And just tell them that I work ten times harder than you think you’re working or that you could do.”
The Rhode Island Rams season is still young, with eight games left, and the Rams as they get ready for Saturday’s game are 3-1. When I asked Malik how he can impact this Rams team most, Malik said, “Just showing that it’s possible that I’m able to go out and score multiple touchdowns in a game, that the guys are able to lean on me on offense. They can put the ball in my hand and I could go make something work and put us in the best position to score, even if that’s me scoring or one of the receivers scoring or even the quarterback going to score. You know, I feel like it just shows that the run game is there because Deon Silas, he also had a really great game. He had really great runs, you know, so it wasn’t just me and the rushing attack. It was him as well. So I feel like it’s just showing that the rush team is there. So it’s like, at this point now, we just need to put it all together because our receivers are very talented. Those guys, I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a group of receivers this talented. So those guys are so talented. It’s just like us just playing the run game and the receiving game together now and just boom, it’s like we’re just going to take off like a rocket, I feel like.”
If Malik could go back and tell the younger him years ago anything, Malik said he would say, “Don’t ever doubt anything that you’re doing. Your time will come. Even if my process is slower than others, my opportunity and my time is still going to come. Just don’t doubt anything. Don’t ever doubt myself. And just always keep my head up and always keep working ten times harder than how hard I was working before as well.”
Rhode Island had a bye last week, and this week Malik, Coach Fleming and the Rams will look to improve to 4-1 with a win against Hampton on Saturday at 2:00PM, at Armstrong Stadium in Hampton, Virginia.
The first time the Rams and Pirates ever met was in 1972. It was the first ever night matchup for the Rams in Kingston, and they won 27-0. The last time these two teams met was in 2001 in Hampton, Virginia. The Rams had a seven-game winning streak and beat the Pirates, 56-7.
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