Grant Ament to Forgo an Extra Year With Penn State Lacrosse

Grant Ament, one of the most beloved members of Penn State men’s lacrosse, announced yesterday via his Instagram account, that he would not pursue a sixth year of eligbility with the NCAA and would instead, graduate and pursue a professional career.

Ament will go down as Penn State as well as the Big Ten’s all-time leader in assists and points (in lacrosse, a player’s point total is made up of their total combined assists and goals). He and goal-scoring ace Mac O’Keefe made up a deadly one-two combination (think John Stockton and Karl Malone) in Jeff Tambroni’s high-flying, up-tempo, system. While the team went through some ups and downs during their coronavirus-shortened season, they still appeared to be on path to earning a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and potentially taking care of unfinished business down in Philadelphia for the Final Four. Sadly, we will never get to know how things would have played out.

The NCAA recently announced that all Spring sports participants could apply for an additional year of eligbility, should they want it. In Grant’s case, he decided that five years in Happy Valley was enough, and he was ready to get on with the rest of his life, which at least some of it will involve playing professionally in the Premier Lacrosse League:

While Grant undoubtedly leaves a tremendous legacy on the field, his biggest legacy will be being part of a team that helped turn many PSU fans who didn’t give lacrosse the time of day into ones that follow every game. More importantly, he helped build a following that has students, alumni, and locals turning out regularly to fill up the recently-built Panzer Stadium and has gotten us here at BSD interested enough to regularly write about the team (instead of giving the occasional shout-out in a Success With Hyperlinking post).

Grant and his teammates have laid the foundation for future success that this program should have, and while he may personally never get to experience it as a player, don’t be surprised to see him as an enthusiastic former letterman cheering in the stands when PSU does someday win their first-ever national championship.

We here at BSD wish Grant all the best going forward.