Reggie Grimes II still plays with Legos.

So much so, in fact, that when he graduated from the University of Oklahoma this spring, his parents got him a Millennium Falcon Lego set as his graduation present. It's not out of character, either — he'll probably be building things for the rest of his life.

Grimes spent his summer interning with Love's, driving around Oklahoma to scout potential locations for gas stations. It's a natural application of his degree in environmental design, where he hopes to spend his career helping companies create environmentally friendly designs and policies.

For now, that will be his second career. His first one is as a football player — specifically a defensive end. And the next chapter of that career will be in Memphis, because Grimes committed to the Tigers in the spring after four seasons with the Sooners. He already has drawn rave reviews.

"He's 6-foot-5, 285 pounds, and he kind of floats when he runs," Tigers defensive line coach Spence Nowinsky said. "He's one of those guys that's built different. I think the world of him. I think the sky's the limit for him right now."

From Tennessee to Oklahoma and back again

That has been the case since high school. A four-star recruit out of Ravenwood, Grimes chose Oklahoma over Alabama but could've gone practically anywhere he wanted.

He didn't go to Tuscaloosa even though his dad, Reggie Grimes, played for the Crimson Tide and later spent time with the New England Patriots. When he was at Alabama and in the midst of three-a-day practices, Grimes told his teammates his son would never play football. Instead, he'd hand him a golf club.

True to his word, Grimes started Reggie Grimes II with golf — but it didn't take.

"The sport of golf is cool, if you understand the strategy and all that stuff behind it," the younger Grimes said. "I didn't necessarily like it, because it's like — the point of golf is to play as little golf as possible. So like, why would you . . . you know what I mean?"

He started football soon after, immediately dominating any position he played. His dad hadn't planned to be a coach, but it just happened — he coached his son from the time he was 7 through his senior year at Ravenwood, serving as the Raptors' defensive coordinator that season.

"He would always ask me, 'Are you still having fun?' " the son said. "He wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing it just because he did it. He wanted to make sure that I was doing it because I loved it."

His first year in Norman was his first year without his dad as his coach, and it was an adjustment. Then there was the pandemic, the introduction of NIL deals and the high-profile departure of coach Lincoln Riley to Southern California. Grimes battled injuries and played only four games in 2023, finishing his Sooners career with 43 tackles and 7.5 sacks.

He wanted to play closer to home, and Memphis was a natural fit. Not only do the Tigers play three hours away, but they were searching for someone to consistently put pressure on the quarterback. Grimes, with his four-star pedigree and four years of college experience, could be that guy.

Building for Grimes' future

Grimes' top objective this fall will be wreaking havoc on opposing backfields. But working on that Millennium Falcon set won't be far behind.

He's still into Legos because he's still into building things. He changed majors a few times in college, eventually landing on architecture. But the schedule was unsustainable — sometimes he'd go from morning practice to class to the design studio, then sleep there and head straight to practice the next morning.

A professor told him about environmental design, and Grimes called his parents.

"It's architecture," he told them, "but just saving the turtles."

He has been hooked since then, spending summers with Love's and planning for a long-term career. He can spend as much time talking about alternative fuel sources and green roofs as he can about blitz packages.

So 2024 will be critical for Grimes, with the chance to help Memphis reach the heights of its College Football Playoff hopes while thinking about how to build environmentally friendly skyscrapers.

"He's always been the type that — just tell him what you need him to do," his dad said. "You don't have to berate him, you don't have to demean him, you don't have to be derogatory, just tell him what you need him to do and he'll do a pretty good job."

That mentality might work for more than one career.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Reggie Grimes II balances environmental design, Memphis football