BATON ROUGE - ABC welcomes its newest Bachelor contestant with the new season starting on Monday. Local viewers may be surprised to find out that the show's leading man has some Jag Nation ties. 

Grant Ellis is the star of season 29 of The Bachelor. The Newark, New Jersey native was a contestant on season 21 of The Bachelorette but he was eliminated in week 6. 

Ellis may be a northeasterner, but he actually had a stint on the hardwood with Southern University. 

He played for the Jaguar men's basketball team in 2015-2016, his senior season under Coach Nick Marinello. Though he didn't go on to graduate from Southern, he still has those ties back to the capital city. 

Ellis spoke with Good Morning America about his upcoming season. 

"A lot of people bury their feelings and they don't know how to express them," he said. "That's something I really wanted to focus on for my season."

The Bachelor airs on ABC at 6 p.m. Monday.