With one season remaining and just one credit hour on his class schedule this semester, the time has arrived for Kansas wideout Luke Grimm to pour everything he’s got into his final season of KU football.
As he does, we’ll follow him every step of the way in our latest weekly diary that will chronicle Grimm’s 2024 season.
Some of what you’ll read here, in Grimm’s own words, will focus on the stuff happening between the lines — big wins, memorable catches and the grind of the season. But a lot of it will focus on Grimm the person, a 23-year-old senior (he just turned 23 on Aug. 8) who has given everything he has to the program and seen it pay off in a big way.
The Grimm File
Age: 23 | Height: 6-0 | Weight: 190 | Position: Wide Receiver
Hometown: Raymore, Mo. | High School: Raymore-Peculiar High
Notable: Last season, Grimm became the 16th Jayhawk to reach the 100-catch mark for his career... The senior wideout enters the 2024 season with 126 career receptions, putting him within striking distance of climbing into 4th place (155) on KU's all-time receiving chart and with an outside shot at cracking the top 3 (214 and 219)... He also is less than 300 yards away from reaching the top 5 on KU's receiving yards list... Dubbed "The Grimm Reaper" early in his career, Grimm appeared in 6 games as a true freshman and has finished each of the past three seasons in the top four in receptions, including leading the team in 2022 and finishing second last season... A 3-star recruit by Rivals.com, 247 Sports & ESPN, Grimm was ranked as the No. 7 wide receiver in the state of Missouri by Max Preps in the 2020 class.
With his team holding massive goals for the 2024 season and the excitement surrounding Kansas football at an all-time high, Grimm is grinning from ear to ear about the potential for his final run with the Jayhawks.
KU will open the season on Aug. 29 against Lindenwood at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas.
In Part 1 of “One Last Run,” we caught up with Grimm about the first half of preseason camp and all of the emotions that have been a part of it.
“During other camps, it gets monotonous and it’s just so repetitive and you’re just like, ugh. I just want to go somewhere else for a little bit to escape it. But I was telling my girlfriend the other day that I’m just having so much fun because this is the last one I’ll ever have. There’s nothing else after this. And I’m just enjoying it.”
That means there’s no such thing as too much at the football complex.
“Coach Leipold will come up and say we’ve got 135 minutes of practice tomorrow and your first thought is, ‘that’s a long practice.’ But then you get in it and I’m just having fun. Then you think, wow, I might be here until 8 o’clock tonight and then it’s like 7:30 and I’m like, ‘Damn, already?’ So, it’s really just flying by faster than it ever has because I’m just enjoying it and being in the moment every day rather than looking ahead.”
While Grimm prepared for the beginning of the end and made a promise to himself that he would enjoy every second, the way the days have flown by has surprised him.
“I mean, we’re on Day 13 already. I would not have imagined it would go this fast.”
It’s not just the fast days that have made this camp feel different than the rest. Grimm also has run into a fair amount of nostalgia while running through practices and meetings.
“Coach Sleeve (strength coach Matt Gildersleeve) told me when we started, ‘This is your last first day.’ And that really hit me. It’s crazy. It’s my last first day of school, it’s my last first day of fall camp. Just crazy.”
“It’s funny because we’ll be sitting in meetings and the young guys will be asking questions and it’s just like a big flashback. Five years ago, I remember asking that question and I remember being in that seat, where coach is like what do you do need to do here and you’re just like, ‘I don’t know what the right answer is here so I’m just gonna be quiet.’ I want to help them so much and give them the answers, but that’s part of it and something they have to experience for themselves.”
“To me, that’s just what the whole idea of taking advantage of every minute is all about. There are so many people that would want to be in my shoes, so why would I not want to make the most of it?”
To that end, Grimm has found himself — along with several of his teammates — delivering in new ways than ever before during this year's camp.
After each team scrimmage that ends a week-long cycle, the coaches routinely put the Jayhawks through something known as "gut check," during which they run 8 to 12 plays in a row without substitutions.
“Last year when we did it, I would die. We’d be done and I’m like gasping for air. This year when we do it, the whole offense is like, ‘We could go six more plays, 10 more plays if we had to.’ We’re gonna be in such good shape that we’re prepared for anything.”
That's one area in which Grimm feels he has improved this time around. Another has to do with his physical feel and stamina, the direct result of an offseason spent dropping nearly 9% body fat and getting all the way down to his current mark of 11.2%.
“My biggest thing, from the end of the bowl game to still now, was I just wanted to get faster and stronger.”
“The first couple days of fall camp, I’m running and I’m fresh legs and I’m thinking maybe it’s because we just started. But even today, I’m still moving so much faster than I used to move, and it’s the same thing for a lot of guys on the offense. Everyone is so much more physically strong and fit that we’re moving at such a fast pace and such strong paces.”
Those realities make their already-high goals seem that much more attainable and exciting.
While chasing those — Big 12 title, College Football Playoff spot and others — will be a season-long quest, the one that has resonated with Grimm throughout camp is one he set more than a decade ago.
“My lifelong goal when I was a kid was just to play college football. And my 12-year-old self would be so proud and so happy to see where I am. Not even just because I’m playing college football, but all of the stuff – injuries, the coaching changes, how our program has been. Just to stick through it all and grow has been great. When I was 12 years old, that’s all I thought about football. It was just fun. And that’s all it is now, too.”
— Be sure to check back with "Wave the Wheat" next week for another installment in our "One Last Run" series with Luke Grimm.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
