A Member of the Big Red Goes Orange

Grant Winter ’24 will play football at Syracuse University

BY IAN ALDRICH

Grant Winter’s earliest football memory is a revealing one. He was in second grade, playing fullback on his local Pop Warner team, when he caught a screen pass and burst past most of the defense for a long run that nearly resulted in a touchdown.

“It was just this amazing feeling to make that play,” says the Form of 2024 graduate. “And then also the camaraderie of my teammates afterwards. It just felt very special.”

This fall, Winter will carry that memory with him — along with his 6’3, 255-pound frame — to Syracuse University. He’ll play as a defensive end for the Orange, who compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), one of Division I college football’s elite Power Five conferences. A three-year member of the SPS football program, Winter will follow in the footsteps of several recent high-caliber St. Paul’s football recruits including Parker McQuarrie ’20 (UCLA), Jonathan Saklad ’19 (Wake Forest) and Ezechiel Tieide ’18 (Boston College).

“I’m excited,” Winter says. “It’s a big program; they play in a big stadium, so I’ll be playing in front of 50,000 people. So obviously there’s going to be a big difference from St. Paul’s.”

But Winter feels prepared. It helps that he comes from a family of athletes and coaches. “I grew up around a lot of good athletes, and ever since I was young I had that Division I goal,” he says.

His time at St. Paul’s School also pushed the dream forward. Winter arrived in the fall of 2021 as a Fourth Former, hungry to be a part of a stronger football program and more challenging academics.

“We play in a really strong league, against really good competition,” says Winter, who anchored the School’s defensive line and played offensive tackle and some tight end. “I got the chance to play against other Power Five [recruits] and I think that’s what helped me get the offer from Syracuse.”

But his path required plenty of hard work off the field, too. He cataloged highlight clips of his play and posted them on social media for college coaches to review. There also were letters he wrote to football programs that outlined both his academic and athletic attributes. His outreach eventually caught the attention of newly hired Syracuse head coach Fran Brown, who is looking to rebuild the program after several sub .500 seasons.

At Syracuse, Winter will enroll at the university’s highly regarded S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where he hopes to continue to leverage the creative skills he developed at SPS.

“It’s been a fun experience,” he says of SPS academic pursuits that have included humanities, German and a range of art classes. “But I think it’s also helped me for what’s next. … I’ve really had to learn how to prioritize and organize my time. At Syracuse the days are going to be long — football is like a full-time job there — but I’ll know I’ll be ready.”

And thousands of Orange fans will be ready to root him on.