Newark's Russell revives career with MVP, arena football championship

WHEELING, W.Va. ― Grant Russell got knocked down often during his days as Newark quarterback. But he always bounced right back up.

That perseverance and passion for football has carried him through a career that continues 10 years out of high school, which he capped with a stunning upset win at rival Lancaster, helping him earn Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division Player of the Year despite the Wildcats finishing 1-9.

After a successful college stint at Ohio Dominican, culminating in a 2017 Great Midwest Athletic Conference title and GMAC Player of the Year honors, Russell became quarterback for the Columbus Destroyers in the Arena Football League in 2019. But his career seemed over when the league folded.

However, his phone rang again in 2024. Did he want to return with Wheeling of American Arena League 2?

Not only did the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Russell come back, but he did so with a vengeance. He led the Miners to a 10-0 record, outscoring opponents by 50 points a game and throwing six touchdown passes in the 61-14 rout of the Peach State Cats for the league title before a raucous crowd in Wheeling's WesBanco Arena. He was named AAL2 MVP and Offensive Player of the Year.

“I thank God,” Russell told the Weirton (W.Va.) Daily Times after the game “Three years ago I was at one of the lowest points in my life, and to be able to come in here in front of all these people, especially my family and friends, and win a championship, I can’t ask for anything else. I’m blessed that basically my whole family was here to witness this."

Now 28 and a full-time intervention specialist, social studies and science teacher and seventh-grade football coach for Grove City Jackson Middle School, Russell received that call from Wheeling head coach Josh Resignalo, who he had known from his Destroyers days and who had asked him to play in Carolina back then. Then COVID hit in 2020.

"I was locked into teaching, coaching and getting my masters when he reached out in January," Russell said. "When I signed, my principal (at Grove City) was OK with it, and I was very lucky."

He has been at Grove City for three years, after subbing at Newark and coaching quarterbacks.

Russell basically had two months to get ready to play for Wheeling, whose season began in April.

"I've always thought I could play at most levels, and throwing the football will always be there for me," he said. "And I've always tried to keep myself in decent shape. But when I started camp, it took me a little while to re-focus."

Playing for the Miners meant leaving Grove City on Tuesday mornings for practice, driving the two hours to Wheeling, then returning home to teach. It was a journey that proved to be worth taking.

"We had a lot of talent," said Russell, who threw touchdown passes to four different receivers in the title game and also ran for a score. "We had an offensive lineman who played at Texas Tech when Patrick Mahomes was quarterback. Toward the end of the season, we had guys getting offers from NFL training camps."

Wheeling had enough talent and such a stout defense that the Miners were able to beat the Jersey Bearcats in the division championship game without Russell, who was in Hawaii on honeymoon with his wife, the former Megan Hendershot, who is from Central Crossing and who he met at Ohio Dominican.

"She's been very supportive of me doing this, even though she doesn't like it when I try to run," he said. "You can't slide on this turf, or you'll get bad burns."

A lot of friends and family were able to come watch him play.

"I was leaving like 50 tickets a game," Russell said. "For people like Billy and Debbie Jefferson of Newark and their son Brandon, my longtime friend."

Wheeling has joined the National Arena League for 2025, but Russell is not sure about his future.

"It's definitely a step up," he said. "I'm still not sure if I'll come back. That's something that my wife and I will have to talk about."

In the meantime, he'll enjoy coaching the younger players up at Grove City. But once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat.

"My nephew, Mason Murphy, is a seventh-grade quarterback at Newark, and I've been working with him on Sundays," Russell said.

His Jackson Middle School team will scrimmage Newark next month, and it is coached by one of his former Wildcat coaches, Tony Oiler.

"They have a lot of numbers and things are looking up," Russell said. "I'll always be following them and rooting for them."

dweidig@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark's Russell revives career with MVP, arena football championship