Wichita State’s Anton Grady confirms desire to return to basketball

Wichita State center Anton Grady reaffirmed his intention to return to basketball in an interview with the Cleveland Plain-Dealer on Tuesday.

“No way I’m sitting out my senior season,’’ he said. “I’m on a mission, and the mission is not over until the end of the season,” Grady told Elton Alexander of the Plain-Dealer.

Grady, from Cleveland, suffered a spinal concussion in the Nov. 27 game against Alabama in the AdvoCare Invitational. On Dec. 5, he did some light shooting and movement before WSU’s game at Saint Louis. WSU coach Gregg Marshall, on his Monday radio show, said Grady did more practice duties for the first time on Monday.

However, both Marshall and Grady say a timetable for his return to the court remains unknown. Grady told the Plain-Dealer that he jogged last week and suffered from a headache after, which forced him to start his concussion recovery protocol from the beginning. Since then, he reports no setbacks.

“I’ve gone through three days of non-contact practice,’’ he told The Plain Dealer. “I’m lifting every day.’’

Marshall’s position throughout the recovery is that a return depends on decisions made by Grady, his family, doctors and trainers.

“(Grady) is going through a spinal concussion protocol,” Marshall said. “He’s going to do what he can and eventually comeback, maybe. I don’t know. I let the doctors and the trainers, him and his parents, his family, deal with that. And when he comes back, it will be a plus.”

In St. Louis, Grady said he considered that day the first step in his comeback.

“I’m feeling good,” he said on Dec. 5. “My body is feeling a lot better. Today was basically Step 1 in the process of getting back on the basketball court. We’re still a big ways away, but I feel like we’ll be there pretty soon.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Wichita State’s Anton Grady confirms desire to return to basketball."