Even in a world of 24/7 media scrutiny, DeMarcus Grady managed to keep a secret from NIU football fans.

Basketball is the only game Grady truly wanted to play in college. The redshirt junior found himself playing football, however, after a series of basketball recruiters pulled scholarships because they thought he only wanted to play football. To this day, the Grady family doesn’t know how recruiters received that information.

After three years of wondering, Grady made the decision last December to return to the game he loves. Grady had to seek permission from new NIU football head coach Dave Doeren to play, since he plans on playing football his senior year. One phone call later, though, Grady was a member of the NIU men’s basketball team.

Since joining the Huskies in mid-December, Grady has appeared in nine games and is currently averaging 3.7 points a game.

Grady is starting to enjoy some success as the backup point guard for the Huskies, but it’s hard for the redshirt junior not to imagine what could have been had he played basketball his entire career.

NIU had extended both a football and basketball scholarship to Grady in high school. In spite of his better judgment, he chose football over playing basketball in the MAC. In hindsight, Grady wishes his pride wouldn’t have made the decision for him.

“I felt like I could play basketball in the Big Ten or Big 12,” Grady said. “I felt at the time that I was good enough to do that. So, settling for a MAC school, I felt that would be an underachievement.”

Football grew on the young signal caller, but the idea of playing Division-I basketball never left his mind. Named the starting quarterback prior to the 2010 season, Grady still couldn’t shake his doubts.

“Even when I started against Iowa State [in the 2010 season opener], I was still thinking about whether I wanted to play basketball this season,” Grady said. “That was just something I kept to myself though.”

Grady lost his job to Chandler Harnish after a sub-par performance against Iowa State. Following the demotion, Grady doubted himself as an athlete for the first time.

At his lowest point, Grady leaned on his family for moral support.

“When he was really young he used to sleep with a basketball, that’s how much he loved the game,” said DeMarcus’ mother Janell. “All these years I have always told him not to give up on basketball if that’s what he wants to do.”

With his mother’s words fresh in his mind, Grady began to frequent the NIU Recreation Center after football practice, playing in any pick-up basketball games he could. Senior running back Chad Spann knew where Grady went after practice, but fully supported his teammate.

“It wasn’t a knock on the football team at all,” Spann said. “Basketball is DeMarcus’ first love, and he had an opportunity to play for coach Patton.”

NIU men’s basketball head coach Ricardo Patton was no stranger to Grady. Patton’s children, Ricardo Jr. and Michael, were both friends with the quarterback. Ricardo Jr. played on the NIU football team and Michael went to basketball camps in high school with DeMarcus.

During his freshman season, DeMarcus asked Ricardo Jr. to give a tape of him playing basketball in high school to his father. DeMarcus had hopes of playing basketball during his freshman season, but Ricardo told Grady he would need permission from NIU football head coach Joe Novak. The time never seemed right, though, to approach Novak or future head coach Jerry Kill about playing basketball.

“I don’t even think coach Kill knew that I liked basketball, I kind of just never mentioned it,” Grady said. “Especially with me trying to fight for the quarterback spot.”

The departure of Kill gave DeMarcus an opportunity to start a new relationship with a new head coach. He called Doeren about a move to the basketball team within three days of the coach’s hiring.

“I was still at the Rose Bowl when he called me,” Doeren said. “It was obviously really important to him. I know DeMarcus is a great kid and he can handle his responsibilities.”

The smile on DeMarcus Grady’s face is noticeably wider these days.

Instead of answering questions about a game he has never fully embraced, he’s just chatting about the game he left behind, but never forgot.