Grambling’s Kenneth Anio growing into sideline presence

Defensive back Kenneth Anio, who suffered a broken leg in practice before his senior season at Grambling could get underway, has found new life as a player-coach helping out with his old unit.

He’ll file the paperwork for a medical hardship waiver, in hopes of retaking the field in 2010. But Anio says he plans to focus on that later. Right now, he wants to do whatever he can to help his team, and its hobbled secondary, get back to a championship.

“I’m seeing things more from a coach’s perspective; I’m starting to see what they see from the sidelines,” Anio told me this morning. “Since I can’t be back there, I tell them what I see, what they could to go play better.”

Anio came into 2009 with 118 career tackles at Grambling, 11 pass breakups and eight interceptions. Last year, Anio accounted for 45 total tackles, sixth overall at Grambling. He was also second on the team with five picks, adding 135 yards on interception returns.

Secondary coach Sam Washington first mentioned a waiver to Anio, he said, when it became clear that his recovery was going to take far longer than the senior from Jackson, La., had hoped.

“He was saying how much that would help me next year, resting and coming back 100 percent,” Anio said.

Anio resisted. He’s improved every year he’s played at Grambling, and possesses a competitor’s heart. Sitting out couldn’t be more difficult.

But he’s learned something about himself, as he learned more about the game from outside the lines. That valuable new insight, he said, will only making him better next season.

“At first, I was undecided. But then I found out that it (recovery) was going to take a long time,” Anio said. “I didn’t want to come back and end up playing in only five games my senior year.”

He appeared in eight as a reserve in 2006, and then started in 2007-08 as Grambling won a pair of Western Division titles and a SWAC crown. Prior to that, Anio used his redshirt in 2005 as a prop under former coach Melvin Spears, so he would have to apply for a special hardship status — similar to the one given to Bruce Eugene that same season.

Anio’s injury happened during a collision with Gabriel Fleming on Aug. 20, in practices held before Grambling’s opener in Orlando against South Carolina State. The timing is important because the NCAA judges these cases based on the amount of time played — 30 percent of the team’s regular-season contests is the cutoff — before an injury occurs.

The broken leg just compounded what was already a difficult year physically for Anio.

He actually suffered a partial miniscus tear in last year’s win over Southern in the nationally televised Bayou Classic — but played on in the subsequent Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game before having an offseason procedure.

Anio’s unit has continued to get banged around, notably missing T.J. McCord recently. But the senior free safety is practicing again this week.