William & Mary OL Charles Grant, a 2025 NFL Draft prospect, is breaking the modern college football mold

William & Mary coach Mike London was stunned as he watched Charles Grant soar through the air during one of the football team's practice periods. 

Grant had just caught a swing pass on a screen play designed to get the ball into his hands. When a defensive back went low to cut him down, Grant took to the air and hurdled over the would-be tackler. 

Hurdles are often reserved for the highlight reels of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks and skill position players. Grant is neither; he's a 6-foot-4, 300-pound offensive lineman. 

"Here he's got the knee braces on, the heavy pads, I'm like, 'Look at this guy,'" London said. 

London's coaches refer Grant as a "freak of nature." London compared him to former Virginia OL D'Brickashaw Ferguson. London was defensive line coach for Virginia during a few of Ferguson's seasons starring in Charlottesville. Ferguson was selected by the New York Jets with the fourth overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft and who went on to have a lengthy professional career that saw him accrue three Pro Bowl selections. 

Grant is a one-man wrecking crew who can reach 32 inches on a vertical jump and run over 21 miles per hour when clocked on a GPS. 

And the NFL is starting to pay attention. 

"There are scouts at practice almost daily and there are scouts planning return visits with position coaches," said Mario Acitelli, the William & Mary offensive line coach/offensive coordinator. "It's not just the run of the mill, I'm checking this school off and going to it. He's generating interest from the All-American recognitions and all-conference recognitions but then when people see him practice and watch the tape, they are excited." 

In fact, London said that some NFL teams tried to convince Grant to leave college following a 2023 season that saw him accrue FCS All-American and first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association honors. The hope was that he would slip through the cracks in the draft and enter into negotiations as an undrafted free agent, where teams could sign him to a cheaper contract. 

London also said several college football teams tried to contact Grant, through channels official and unofficial, to enter the transfer portal. 

Starting-caliber offensive tackles with legitimate NFL upside don't grow on trees, after all. 

But Grant remained steadfast in the face of would-be suitors, regardless of level, to return William & Mary's loyalty in kind; a rarity for a player who could have had the opportunity to star on some of the sport's biggest stages. 

"I kind of knew that I wanted to stay at William & Mary just from the fact that those were the guys who bet on me when no one really was," Grant said in an interview. "I was trying to finish what I started."

The Tribe may have taken a bet on Grant, but Grant's no stranger to betting on himself. By coming back for another year, he's betting that NFL teams will watch his FCS production and deem that he's worthy of an early draft pick. 

His biggest gamble came when he actually decided to play football. Unlike most NFL hopefuls with vivid dreams of gridiron superstardom, Grant barely even gave the sport a second thought growing up. 

"If you asked me as a kid what I wanted to be, I don't think a football player would have been a thing." Grant said. 

Instead, he was a wrestler. He started wrestling in middle school and continued the craft through his junior year at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, Virginia. 

It was there, and then, that Churchland's football coach organized a wrestling tournament. One of Churchland's lineman, who had a considerable size advantage on Grant, challenged Grant to a match. Grant took him down with ease. The football coach was watching. 

Grant was offered a spot on the football team, so long as he made it out to practice. He mulled the decision over before finally deciding to give it a shot. 

"It's been history ever since," Grant said. 

He was an all-region selection in both of his years playing high school football. College interest was slow to follow Grant's transition. He only received two offers: one from William & Mary and one from UVA Wise, a Division II school. 

He arrived on William & Mary's campus in the spring of 2021 as a 240-pound freshman with less than two years of playing experience. By his redshirt freshman campaign, he was starting five games at left tackle. As a sophomore in 2022, he didn't give up a single sack while taking the field first in all 13 games. 

"I've seen Charles grow and develop and just kind of morph into a person that looks like -- you talk about that's what it looks like -- that's what a tackle looks like," London said.

Grant's on the precipice of being able to cash in on all those bets. 

Some NFL scouts certainly believe that he could hear his name called in the first few rounds. Some NFL personnel have a Day 2 grade on Grant, according to one scouting service CBS Sports was given access to. 

His coach's scouting report has him going even higher. 

"Charles has a chance to go on the first day," London said. "But he's humble and he wants to stay grounded because he'd rather be humble voluntarily than involuntarily."

Grant's humility will serve him well, but he would have plenty to be proud about if he had a new NFL home by Day 2 of the draft. There have been 1,292 prospects selected in the last five drafts. Only 52 came from the FCS ranks. 

Fewer still go within the first three rounds. Former Yale offensive lineman Kiran Amegadije was the first FCS standout to hear his name called in 2024, ending a wait that extended 11 picks into the third round. 

Offensive linemen do tend to fare a bit better. An FCS OL has been drafted within the first three rounds each year since 2021, including a pair of first-round picks -- Northern Iowa's Trevor Penning and Chattanooga's Cole Strange -- in 2022. 

William & Mary itself hasn't produced a draft pick higher than the third round since 1997, and no members of the Tribe have ever gone off the board in the first round. Its most recent draft product, offensive lineman Colby Sorsdal was picked in the fifth round in 2023. Sorsdal has been a source of guidance for Grant as he takes his first real steps on the professional journey. 

Though a lot of it is out of Grant's hands, he's been working hard to make a bigger impact both this upcoming season and in the eyes of NFL front offices. He wants to be more well-rounded in the run game and he wants his final collegiate season to be punctuated by a no-sack effort. 

Having played just seven total years of football, there is good reason to believe Grant has a ways to go before scraping his ceiling.

"He has gotten better and better and better every year," Acitelli said. "I fully believe he has his best ball ahead of him."