James Holley-Grisham's research involves analyzing movie scripts, not to mention opposing quarterbacks. St. Lawrence athletics photo by Tara Freeman

When you interview a lot of coaches and football players, it’s not often that you discuss things such as “hierarchical cluster analysis.”

St. Lawrence senior defensive back James Holley-Grisham is one of the most decorated football players in the school’s history: a four-year starter, two-time all-region and three-time All-Liberty League selection, to name a few. The senior has school records in sight for both career interceptions and punt return yardage too.

But perhaps the biggest achievement in his young life came off the field this summer. The mathematics major, who has a double minor in accounting and education, traveled to the University of California-Berkley to attend the 24th McNair Scholars Symposium. At the conference, he presented research which involved, well, a lot of math and computer analysis. But basically, he analyzed 800-900 movie scripts for their text complexity to determine which genres have the most advanced use of language. From that you can determine which movies would target the widest audience. For example, horror movies have the least complexity and therefore a greater target range.

“Let’s say you want to take your family out to a movie and you don’t know what to watch,” said Holley-Grisham, who hopes to do postgraduate work in statistics.

“If you have young kids, they may not be at the intellectual level that the movies are (written at). A movie in the easier cluster analysis, would be easier for them to interpret what’s going on in the movie.”

Holley-Grisham may have two last names, but he is not the stereotypical student you would expect to find a liberal arts school in the northeast. The native of Rochester attended East High.

“It’s the inner-city school district of Rochester,” he said. “It’s a school district that on average has low scores and low graduation rates traditionally.”

But after a recruiting visit from coach Dan Puckhaber and a visit to St. Lawrence, the All-State and National Honor Society student found a home. You get the feeling that Holley-Grisham feels that there are more kids from inner city areas that could go private schools but never get the chance.

“The fact that he had the balls to walk into my high school to come recruit me,” he said, “I give him more respect than most coaching staffs and most coaches in general.”

So while disappointed when coach Mark Raymond left after last season to pursue other opportunities, the senior was pleased when the coach that recruited him was named to the top spot this past offseason.

“At first I was furious. He was a big part of me being successful here at St. Lawrence,” he said. “I felt betrayed. But at the same time Coach “Puck” was a great candidate for the job and I felt could do just as well Coach Raymond has done.”

So far, Puckhaber and the Saints have been better. After winning the Liberty League last season, they have started the season 4-0. In their first three games, a veteran defense did not allow a point. Last Saturday they beat RPI, last year’s co-champion, 20-14 in the conference opener.

“There’s no defense in the world that’s perfect we expected to give up points at some point in the season.”

Despite losing All-American Leondre Simmon in the secondary to graduation, the unit has hardly missed a beat. They are holding opponents to just 188 yards a game, while recording 14 sacks and 10 turnovers. Holley-Grisham is now the veteran leader in the secondary, a role he shared with Simmon, He tops the Saints with three interceptions and now has 20 in his career---just two short of the school record of 22.

“We lacking his skill but we’re not lacking terms of effort and passion. We still have guys that come in and compete just as hard as he did.”

Holley-Grisham has added another role that Simmon once filled. He is now lining up at receiver occasionally. He has two receptions this season, both for touchdowns. The dual threat, punt returner/defensive back, can now give defenses a headache when the Saints get in the red zone.

As senior leader, he knows that the program’s recent achievements don’t guarantee future success.

“We don’t see that as a major factor to us being successful this year. It’s a previous year, a previous team. It’s not really influencing us this year, but at the same time, we need to work harder to be just as successful as we were last year.”

Top 25

Salisbury (3-2, 2-0 NJAC) is now the top-ranked team in the East at No. 13. The Sea Gulls jumped two spots after defeating Southern Virginia 35-0. Salisbury scored three touchdowns in the final four minutes of the second quarter to break open a scoreless game. The Gulls will host TCNJ (0-3. 0-2 NJAC)) for the first time as a NJAC member. Last season’s contest was cancelled due to the threat of hurricane.

St. John Fisher (4-0, 2-0 E8) is No. 14 after their heart-stopping 42-28 victory over Brockport. The Cardinals overcame a 21-point halftime deficit but weren’t safe until quarterback Matt Naton scored with 17 seconds left in the game. In all, Naton accounted for six touchdowns and over 420 yards. They’ll host Buffalo St. (2-1, 1-1 E8) on Saturday

Stevenson (4-0, 3-0 MAC) up one spot to No. 20 after running way from FDU-Florham 54-15. The Mustangs travel to winless Misericordia this weekend before a week off. They’ll then face Widener and Delaware Valley in back-to-back weeks. Those two teams appear to be the biggest obstacles to the team’s first MAC championship.

Hobart (4-0, 1-0 LL) is up one spot to No. 21 after beating Union 27-23. The Statesman will host Merchant Marine (2-1, 1-0 LL), who hung around until fourth quarter last season before falling 30-15. Air-Bart is averaging 313 yards a game behind quarterback Shane Sweeney. Junior receiver Brandon Shed is developing into one of the most dangerous receivers in the country. He was nearly matched his statistics from last season (37-700-8) in just four games with 31 catches for 546 yards and 8ight touchdowns.

Christopher Newport (4-0, 3-0 NJAC) has climbed two spots to No. 22 after beating TCNJ 17-0. The Captains offense sputtered for the first time as they struggled to run the ball against the Lions defense. A third pick-six of the season helped salt the game away in the fourth quarter. CNU will travel to a Rowan (2-1, 1-1 NJAC) team on Saturday night that is fighting to stay in the NJAC race after dropping their first game of the year to Montclair St. last week.

St. Lawrence (4-0, 1-0 LL) is at No.25 after beating RPI 20-14 in the conference opener between the two teams that tied atop the Liberty League standings in 2015. They’ll host a Springfield (2-2, 1-0 LL) on a two-game win streak. The Saints have picked of a pass in 24 of the last 25 games. They may have trouble getting a pick this week since Springfield does throw the ball much in the triple option offense.

Receiving votes: Delaware Valley (49 votes) tumbled out of the Top 25 after being ranked 14th a week ago. The Aggies lost to Albright in the final seconds at home. Alfred (31) quietly steamed along to a 4-0 record with a 20-6 win over Ithaca. Utica (21) also stayed unbeaten by knocking No. 23 Cortland out of the top 25. At 1-2 for the first time since 2003, Wesley (5) was idle last week and travels to Southern Virginia on Saturday.

What to watch this week

Union (1-3, 0-1 LL) at WPI (3-1, 0-1 LL) The Dutchman were winless last season but have looked improved under first-year Coach Berhman. The Engineers lost to Springfield in the conference opener last week after starting 3-0. The winner stays in the LL race, while the loser faces an uphill battle.

Kings (2-2, 2-1 MAC) at Albright (2-2, 2-1 MAC) Knock out game in the MAC. Neither team can afford another loss, while both scored last second conference victories last week.

Frostburg St, (2-1, 1-1 NJAC) at Kean (3-1, 2-1 NJAC) The Bobcats have had two weeks to prepare for the Cougars who have won three straight. The winner stays in the conference race. Nether offense is lighting it up so far this season.

Cortland (2-2, 0-2 E8) at Hartwick (1-2, 0-1 E8) The Hawks can score some points, while the Red Dragons have lost two straight minus the starting quarterback. Cortland will have to take better care of the football this week.

Contact

Do you have a great story, a question? You can reach me at jason.bowen@d3sports.com or catch me on Twitter or Instagram @d3jason