Kelvin Grady spent a week at home in Grand Rapids this spring trying to figure out his future.

The former Michigan point guard had left the Wolverines’ basketball program and his options were simple: Stay at Michigan and finish his degree or transfer somewhere else to try and pursue basketball, not knowing whether he’d fit into that system or be happy at the school.

Simple, that is, until a third option popped up - stay at Michigan and walk on to the football team as a slot receiver. He’d get to stay at the school he loved. He’d get to play on the same field as his older brother, Kevin.

Football would give Grady a second chance at both Michigan and college athletics. Basketball, though, still creeps in his mind.

“I think about it time and again,” Grady said. “But it’s one of those things where sometimes you’ve got to let things go that you may love to move forward in a situation and make something better.”

While he made decision to play football on his own, a piece of advice from his father,
Kevin Grady Sr., may have helped things along. Grady Sr. told his son he went to Michigan for education and basketball: he couldn’t leave the school without at least one of the two things working out.

Even though Kelvin Grady, a guard, had started for Michigan at times during his freshman and sophomore years, playing basketball for the Wolverines was no longer an option.

Yet when Kelvin Grady Jr. called his brother to tell him the new plan, Kevin was stunned. When Kevin, picked up the phone, Kelvin told him to expect to see a lot more of him.

“It just came as a shock,” Kevin Grady Jr. said. “Like football, [it] just came out of the blue.”

As Kelvin Grady made the adjustment, the main question surrounding him wasn’t physical.

Coaches saw him play point guard for Michigan’s basketball team as well as high school tape from East Grand Rapids High School. The question came more in whether or not a guy who had a natural love for basketball could switch sports midway through his college career.

“That was the one thing we were not sure of,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said. “And the one thing we’ve gotten an answer to in a few weeks is that he has shown a passion for it and is having a lot of fun out there.”

The other issue is that Grady never played receiver in high school. He was a running back - he ran for over 2,000 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior for East Grand Rapids.

So even though he’s learning a new position, his football instincts haven’t totally diminished. Kevin Grady Sr. coached his son until high school. He also hung around at Michigan’s scrimmage Saturday.

“Just seeing him out there and moving and running routes and blocking, it was different for me,” Grady Sr. said. “I had never seen him in that capacity. But the feel of the game was there. The football senses were all there.

“When he looked at it, the question mark was he hadn’t played the game in three years, so not that he couldn’t get it but how long would it take for him to get it back.”

Apparently, not long.

Wide receivers coach Tony Dews said Grady was “a pleasant surprise” the past few weeks. Rodriguez deemed he’ll have a chance to play for Michigan this year and is pushing for time at slot receiver - the most productive receiver position in Rodriguez’s spread offense.

Grady has leaned on Martavious Odoms for advice. 

And then there’s his brother. The two played football together once, when Kevin was a senior and Kelvin was a sophomore at East Grand Rapids.

This time, though, might be a little bit different:

For Kelvin, who has a second chance.

“I don’t regret anything that I’ve done,” Kelvin Grady said. “I got an opportunity to play basketball and play with the elite guys, the Dukes and the Georgetowns. I had that phase of my life, which has been great, but now I’m trying something new, playing in the Big House, 110,000, with my friends, with my brother, with my family. Coach Rod has really taken me in, the coaching staff has really taken me in. All this hard work pays off.”

For Kevin Jr., who gets another shot to play with his best friend.

“His first couple days I was like ‘He’s really out here,’” Kevin Jr. said. “But after a while, I just got used to it.”

And for their father, Kevin Sr., who will see both of his sons run out of the Michigan Stadium tunnel this season.

“That will probably be one of the highest points of my life,” Kevin Sr. said. “Seeing them come through that tunnel together, side by side. Wow."

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for annarbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or on Twitter @mikerothstein.