Janarion Grant Could Qualify for Medical Redshirt

Injured Rutgers senior wide receiver Janarion Grant will miss the rest of the football season due to a lower leg injury suffered this past Saturday after a tremendous play against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Assuming he wants to return for another year, it now appears that Grant would mathematically qualify for a medical-hardship waiver as long as he doesn't play again this season. Although originally posted by an Iowa writer speaking of Iowa’s Matt VandeBerg, it also fits Janarion Grant.

The article on VandeBerg, originally published on HawkCentral, spells out the situation for the Iowa wide receiver, but it easily fits Janarion Grant’s situation as well. Grant, who is a one-man offensive juggernaut, played in Rutgers’ first four games this season.

Coach Chris Ash stated in his weekly press conference that Rutgers will file a medical redshirt petition with the NCAA. It’s likely then, that Grant does intend to return if he is eventually approved for a medical redshirt.

According to the NCAA, to qualify for a medical redshirt, a player must satisfy two primary requirements: 1) The injury must occur in the first half of the season, which Grant’s injury did; 2) He must not play in more than 30 percent of the team's scheduled games.

The second one would seem to be difficult at first glance, but the language in the NCAA handbook states:

It is important to note that the computation "shall be rounded to the next whole number." Because Grant played in four of the scheduled 13 regular-season games, he is at, but not over, the limit. For NCAA purposes, 30 percent is equal to 3.9 games and would round up to four.

How 13 games, you ask? The Big Ten Conference title game counts as a scheduled game, regardless if Rutgers plays in it or not. So the computation would be on 13 games, not 12, which is critical to this computation.

In any case, if Grant wishes to return for an additional season at Rutgers, it looks like the path is clearer for him to do so than it did last Saturday afternoon. If he does return, a full season would certainly upgrade his standing in the NFL draft than leaving now, and attempting to demonstrate his ability to play next spring without a full final season to showcase his incredible talents on the gridiron.

Whatever the decision by both Coach Ash and Janarion Grant, he should know he has the full support of the Rutgers Nation. We want this

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to be the image to remain with the Rutgers faithful and ending his career crossing the goal line, successful and healthy. His being stopped with an injury just short of the goal line could otherwise be a metaphor for his spectacular Rutgers career.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

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