Maryland Week, Volume 2 (Grimm's Tales edition) ...

We’re supposed to be objective in this career of mine. You don’t root for the team you cover. Don’t root against them. Don’t play favorites.

I have no problem staying neutral about the Hokies in general. Win or lose, I’m just there to observe and report. But I’m going to admit to breaking that last rule. Without a doubt, Cody Grimm is my favorite player to interview. He wins the award for Guy I’d Be Most Likely To Hang Out With If He Were Just a Normal Dude.

He’s a funny guy. A smart guy. A guy who’ll talk pretty candidly whether Tech wins or loses. He’s good at articulating the defense’s strengths and weaknesses and describing a particular play that might’ve been important.

We hacks love that kind of guy. And did I mention he’s funny? We’ll get to that.

First, let me note another reason it’s hard not to quietly pull for a guy like Grimm: He is a 5-foot-10, barely 200-pound former walk-on who ... um ... currently ranks third in the ACC with 79 tackles and LEADS THE LEAGUE with four forced fumbles. He also has 6.5 tackles for loss, four pass break-ups, a sack and eight QB hurries.

Last week’s stand-up and strip of an ECU receiver – and subsequent fumble recovery – was absolutely textbook stuff. Grimm is an old-school football guy’s ultimate player. A guy who was once just trying to get noticed on special teams and earn a scholarship ... who is today looking like a lock for first-team All-ACC honors.

That, to me, is remarkable. And lucky for us media types, Grimm has played so consistently and talked so eloquently that the coaches have selected him just about every week to come talk to us at Tuesday press conferences.

At this point, I figure he has told me just about everything I need to know about on-field happenings. So I had a little fun with him – in between serious reporters’ questions – at this week’s media gathering.

I wanted to know more about a guy he has mentioned repeatedly at these things (unprompted). Grimm likes to tell stories about his good buddy and the team’s resident prankster, senior walk-on linebacker Mark Muncey, who has four tackles on special teams this season.

Muncey’s role on the team goes beyond stats. A guy who once left a rubber snake in the locker room and later called offensive lineman Richard Graham and pretended to be a kidnapper ... has apparently helped keep spirits high with his hi-jinx.

Grimm has done the same for us reporters with his wit and wisdom during what can be at times tedious press conferences. So here’s what the Ultimate Underdog had to say about himself, his team and Mark Muncey ...

LB CODY GRIMM

ON BEING AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE EVERY WEEK, TELLING US JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING HE KNOWS ABOUT THE TEAM, SO HOW ‘BOUT A STORY ON HIS GOOD FRIEND AND WALK-ON MARK MUNCEY: “I’ll get back to you in a little bit. I have to think about it. He’s a wild one.”

ON WHETHER THE TEAM IS PLAYING FOR ITS BOWL PLACEMENT NOW: “I check them out (the projections) to see where people think we’re going to go, but that changes every week. Any bowl game is fun. It’s always an honor to go to a bowl game. Nowadays, pretty much any bowl game is luxurious. They give you good food; you’ve got a nice hotel room. So wherever you go, it’s a real good time.”

ON WHETHER G-TECH COACH PAUL JOHNSON GOING FOR IT ON FOURTH-AND-1 IN OVERTIME AGAINST WAKE SURPRISED HIM: “Not really. it didn’t surprise me, because the way they are on offense, they go for it on fourth down a good bit of the time. They did it against us a couple of times. The way their offense runs, on fourth-and-1, they like their chances of getting it – and they usually do.”

ON WHETHER MARYLAND RECRUITED HIM, SINCE HE GREW UP ABOUT AN HOUR AWAY: “They were actually one of the first schools to start recruiting me. Them and UVA came on the same week. They recruited me a lot in the beginning, but then once my senior year started, they didn’t really talk to me much. Then once they saw I was coming to Tech, they were in our coaches’ office the next week to try to get me there, saying I’d start on their kickoff team the first year and all this stuff.”

ON GOING FROM WALK-ON TO BEING IN THE HUNT FOR FIRST-TEAM ALL-ACC: “I just come out and try to do what I can, eliminate my mistakes and let things come to me. That seems to happen every now and then. I’m just happy I can make the plays and not miss tackles. I’m just trying to do my position.”

ON WHETHER THE SECRET TO HIS SUCCESS MIGHT BE MARK MUNCEY – TEAMMATE, FRIEND, PRANKSTER – AND THE LAUGHTER HE BRINGS INTO HIS LIFE: “Yeah. He’s a good guy. He’s a funny dude. I was thinking of some of the stories. One of the funniest is ... he’s older than us and he used to drive to middle school back in small Tazwell. He said he used to get out of the car growing up and roll the cigarettes up in his sleeve and just hang outside the middle school. Obviously, he’s joking, but it’s still really funny.”

ON THE PART ABOUT MUNCEY DRIVING IN MIDDLE SCHOOL ASLO BEING A JOKE: “No, he drove. He only had his permit at the time. When he was getting his learner’s permit was at the end of eighth grade. He used to tell us story about how the chicks loved him because he’d get out of the car and have his dad crouch down.”

ON WHETHER MUNCEY IS THE COOLEST GUY ON THE TEAM NO ONE KNOWS: “He’s a good guy. I’m going to get some stories together next week. If I come back (to the press conference), I’ll get out a notebook card and I’ll let you guys hear about it.”

MORE ON MUNCEY: (Just before another reporter asks a serious question, Grimm starts again ...) “There’s actually another funny story. We went hunting back home and his buddy has a farm. His grandma lives on the farm. He said he got in contact with her, but he never did. So it’s like 5 in the morning and we pull in the driveway and Muncey goes, ‘Cut the lights!’ I’m like, ‘What?’ We had to drive around her back yard with our lights off all slow. Whenever we’d hear a 4-wheeler or anything, he’d be like, ‘I think she knows we’re up here!’ We were hunting on this lady’s farm who he said we’d have permission but he never got in contact. It’s just a funny story.”

ON ONLY TAKING ONE CLASS THIS SEMESTER AND WHAT IS IT: “House Planning. It’s going well. It’s only a two-credit class until today. I had a test, actually. So I had to study. Woke up a little earlier than I like. But it’s going well. I’ve got a C-plus in the class, which is pretty much a B-plus.”

ON WHAT THAT CLASS ENTAILS: “I don’t really know. It’s all about setting up how you build a house and what should be what size. It’s kind of interesting, but I’ll probably just buy a house already built.”

ON WHETHER MUNCEY IS IN THAT CLASS: “No, he’s not. Call of Duty (a video game) just came out, so I don’t even know if he’s slept.”

ON HOW MUCH IT HELPS TO PLAY FOOTBALL AS A FIFTH-YEAR SENIOR WHO ONLY HAS ONE CLASS: “It helps. I can watch more film. It just helps not to have to worry about as much. I can lift at 2 and I’m always well-energized for practice. I’m always sleeping in. On Thursdays, I watch film. I don’t have to worry about schoolwork as much. Usually wake up around 11, go grab lunch, come over a little early and watch a little film.”

ON HOW LYNDELL GIBSON DID IN HIS FIRST START AT LINEBACKER: “I think he did a real good job. He was calm out there, made some good plays. He read a screen real quick, hit the quarterback hard on one play. He obviously played good. We didn’t get any big gains on us, which means he was doing his job. That’s all you can ask for. I don’t think he missed any tackles and played smart.”

ON WHETHER HE CONSOLES THE GUY, JAKE JOHNSON, WHO LOST HIS JOB TO GIBSON: “I’m sure he’s a little down, but he’s had a pretty good season, too. They’re both young and a lot can happen. They’re both real athletic where they can both play a couple different positions. I’m sure they’ll both be battling in spring and for the rest of their careers. They’re both good players. Jake’s obviously down that he didn’t play last week, but he understands that it’s a battle out there. It’s a competition week to week and you’ve got to perform at your highest level or that can happen.”

ON WHETHER IT’S TOUGH TO GET UP FOR A 2-7 MARYLAND TEAM: “We’ll be ready to go for sure. The majority of our team is from up around that area, so there’s going to be a lot of family members there. We’re going to be ready to go. I’d say we’re more excited for this game than a lot of other games. We’re playing in front of a bunch of our family, a bunch of our friends.”

ON WHETHER HIS MODELING CAREER IS UNDER WAY AFTER HE WAS USED TO SHOW OFF THE NEW NIKE UNIFORMS AT THE BIG UNVEILING CEREMONY: “Yeah. I’ve been getting calls from Jockey, Haynes, stuff like that. I guess they want me to be an underwear model, but I guess I’ll have to wait until after the season to get into that.”

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