MAHOMET (WCIA) — You can’t teach height, and luckily for Grant Coleman, he didn’t have to learn.

“It’s a blessing, it makes everything a lot easier,” the 6-foot-7 Mahomet-Seymour senior said. “I’ve always wanted to play at the next level and just try my hardest to get there.”

And Coleman knew he had a pretty good chance at playing college basketball, standing over 6-feet tall in just the 8th grade. He started playing AAU basketball his freshman year.

“I had a lot of college scouts coming to watch, and that really boosted my confidence,” Coleman said.

His wish came to fruition when Coleman signed with UW-Milwaukee in November. Despite what his height suggests, the DI offers were initially hard to come by. He attended the NCAA Basketball Academy in Champaign over the summer, where he met Paris Parham. The former Illini assistant coach and current UW-Milwaukee assistant started recruiting him and eventually offered.

“He really connected with me well because he lived 15 minutes down the road, so he kind of knows how to bring it close to home,” Coleman said. “You sometimes don’t get that at high-major schools. I just felt loved and it really stuck with me.”

“To Grant’s credit, he’s a kid who bought into what it was going to take and put the time into the gym,” Mahomet-Seymour head coach Ryan Bosch said. “So it’s nice to see him reach, what for him has been a lifelong goal.”

“It’s definitely where I want to be and I’m blessed to be able to play at the next level,” added Coleman.

Coleman is doing his best to finish out his high school career on a strong note. Last week, he broke a 48-year old school record, scoring 44 points in a win over Mattoon. As the Bulldogs’ first DI signee since 2015, Coleman is proving it takes more than just height to have success.