To a degree, Kevin Grimes had to relearn how to play linebacker last fall.

He’d played the position before, both during his youth football days and at Bear River High, where he led the Bruins with 94 tackles during his senior season in 2005.

But when Grimes got moved from safety back to linebacker last season at the University of Nevada – his second position switch since joining the Wolf Pack (he was recruited as a running back) – he found that playing the position didn’t come as easily as it once did.

“Guys are a lot bigger (in college) than they were in high school,” Grimes said. “I had to use my speed a lot more. I also had to become smarter in my technique.”

Grimes was extremely light for a college linebacker back then, weighing just 205 pounds. Now a 220-pound senior, Grimes is still on the light side – his teammates average in the 230s, by his estimate – but he can pack more of a wallop.

“I now have more force when I run into linemen and more tools to use,” Grimes said. “Last year it was 100 percent speed. This year I have the best of both worlds – I can use my speed and rely on my size now as well.”

Whether as a safety as a freshman and sophomore or as a linebacker last year, Grimes has seen plenty of action, appearing in all of Nevada’s games during those three years. This season, however, is the first in which he can call himself a starter. Grimes lines up in one of the outside spots in the Wolf Pack’s 4-3 scheme.

“It’s nice to see my hard work pay off,” Grimes said.

Grimes recorded four tackles in Nevada’s season-opening win over Eastern Washington last Thursday, matching his best single-game total from 2009, which he recorded twice. One of those tackles was for loss.

He is now just one tackle short of 100 for his career – and expects to have an even bigger impact on defense in the scheme first-year defensive coordinator Andy Buh has installed at Nevada this season.

“Instead of letting receivers run deep on us, we’re rerouting guys,” Grimes said. “This helps the DBs (defensive backs) and allows our defensive line to put pressure on the quarterback, which causes the other team a lot of stress.”

“Our blitz package is a whole new addition for us,” he added. “It’s a lot of fun to run.”

A finance major, Grimes hopes to help the Wolf Pack win a Western Athletic Conference championship in his final college season – something that won’t be easy with a late-season tilt against national powerhouse Boise State looming on Nov. 26. He also hopes to impress NFL teams who may be looking to draft him next spring.

“If it’s God’s will, I’d love to do it,” Grimes, a devout Christian, said of playing in the NFL. “Hopefully I’ll get the opportunity – it’s always been my dream.”

Being undersized for his position shouldn’t matter, he said.

“You have to make plays to go to the NFL,” Grimes said. “If you make plays – I mean the big plays, the kind that change a game – they can put weight on me. I’m not worried about that. But I’ve gotta be that player, and with a little help from the Guy Upstairs, I can be. It’ll definitely be an accomplishment.”