Grant attended City College of San Francisco before finishing his career at Ohio State.

He played in four straight national championship games (two at City College and two at Ohio State).

For his entire collegiate career, Grant started 38 of 49 games he played in, registering 244 tackles (162 solos) with 15.5 sacks and 30.5 stops for losses and caused eight fumbles, recovered three others and had nine pass break-ups, Also, he gained 131 yards on eight interception returns and blocked 15 kicks, returning three blocked punts for a total of 84 yards and a touchdown.

In 24 games at the City College of San Francisco, Grant recorded 175 tackles (119 solos) with 10 sacks and 20.5 stops for losses, as he caused seven fumbles, recovered three others and deflected six passes and also gained 63 yards with a touchdown on six interceptions and set both California junior college and NJCAA career records with 12 blocked kicks, scoring on a 65-yard punt runback.

He was a two-time All-Region I, All-COA, All-California and All-NorCal Football Conference selection, adding NJCAA National Defensive Player of the Year, California Junior College Player of the Year and NJCAA First-team All-American honors as a senior while playing at City College of San Francisco (2004–05).

In 2004, he had 90 tackles (63 solos) with six sacks and 11.5 stops for losses, as he also broke up two passes and blocked six punts, and recovered two fumbles and caused four others Grant was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the seventh round with the 214th overall pick in the 2008 NFL draft.

He would start 3 games at Inside Linebacker for an injured Patrick Willis late in December and registered a career-high 39 tackles for the season.