Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
OREM — In spurts and flashes, Osiris Grady showed the type of player he could be last year as a freshman with Utah Valley.
He showed, in moments here and there, why the four-star prospect out of Wasatch Academy was the type of player who, quite frankly, doesn't come around often to play Western Athletic Conference basketball in Orem.
Harnessing the talent that ranked him the No. 32 power forward by ESPN in the Class of 2023 into a Division I scorer proved a bit more difficult. One game, he'd go off for a career-high 16 points against Liberty on 7-of-9 shooting, then turn around a week later to score just 5 points on 2-of-5 shooting against Boise State.
He'd pull down eight boards against the Broncos, then have two rebounds a game later against California Baptist.
That's not a knock on Grady; it's how college basketball works. Some days, one thing will work. The next, you find something different.
"I think my game has always been there, but was definitely a lot of flashes; there were times where I felt like I got it, and the next game I wasn't able to find it the same," Grady told KSL.com. "This year, I have a lot more confidence and know what I can do in a game to help me succeed. Last year was a good learning experience. … I know what is expected of me and what I need to do."
A year later, Grady — who earned All-WAC Freshman Team honors after averaging 4.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game — has patiently added to his physical game with an entire offseason conditioning program, and he'll be expected to take another step forward for a Wolverines squad that was picked to finish fifth in the WAC in the preseason coaches' poll.
"With patience comes maturity and understanding," UVU coach Todd Phillips said. "You can't score the same way in college as you did in high school. He played at a high, high level in high school and AAU — he was a four-star guy for a reason — but they aren't guarding like the two-star is in college.
"I think it took him a bit of play and experience to realize what he needed to do to score."
The Wolverines lost their top two scorers from a year ago in Drake Allen, who transferred to Utah State, and Caleb Stone-Carrawell, a fifth-year senior from Austin Peay. The team added a few from the transfer portal, like UConn reserve Andre Johnson Jr. and former Corner Canyon standouts Hayden and Carter Welling from UC Irvine.
But mostly, Phillips' squad will turn toward a more experienced group of returning players to take another leap, including former BYU transfer Tanner Toolson and junior forward Ethan Potter, who averaged 9.5 and 7.9 points per game, respectively, a year ago. Grady will also play a key role in the offense alongside Trevan Leonhardt, the redshirt sophomore from Davis High who averaged 2.1 points and 1.1 assists per game a year ago.
And Grady is already seeing improvement, Phillips said while standing a few feet from the former Wasatch Academy wing while smashing long drives with his teammates at Topgolf.
"I think he's done a tremendous job this summer," the second-year UVU head coach said. "He's been here for a full year with us, and he's made a huge jump, to be honest. He's understanding the game a lot more, especially at the Division I game and how you relate and play in that game. He's done a great job this summer, and looks like a completely different play.
"Is he going to go score 20 points a game? No," Phillips added, "But he has the ability to know where he can go score that ball, use his athleticism to fly around, and his energy is contagious. We're expecting him to make a big jump with us, and a guy with Ethan Potter and the Welling brothers where we've got a decent group of bigs."
He may be closer to being that high-flying scorer from his youth, though.
Another year older and mature also means another year larger, Grady adds, noting the regime he's been on with Utah Valley's strength and conditioning staff in the offseason.
That could play a key role for the 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward who played against some of the top prep teams in the country in the National Interscholastic Basketball Conference after transferring to Wasatch Academy from Las Vegas, where he starred at Coronado High and with Las Vegas Punishers in AAU ball.
"I played at a high level in high school," Grady said, "but the players were just a lot stronger and older, so they had a better IQ. I needed to slow down, not go 100 miles per hour all the time. Once I did that, it started to feel the same as high school. It was just about being able to control it."
