I have been working on this concept with my high school marching drummers specifically for the past 7-8 years....we spend a lot of time in the beginning on learning how to control the space between the stick and the drum (aka the space in between beats) with muscle control guided by subdivision. We start some of the basic exercises around 90 to get them burned in, then instead of speeding up, I slow down. Explaining that groove is important first....space control....and muscular control in space...
I then explain that it will be easier to execute faster stuff cleaner, more relaxed, and with a groove, which will give us a different sound than most drumlines....but the more important thing I want them to learn is how space creates groove, and how energy flow thought the muscle groups helps us play "more buttery and smooth" at faster tempos. They get to hear my story about Peter Erskine explaining how "groove is in the space between the notes" all the time.
I also personally am trying to take this concept - which I have done for a long time - and apply it to faster beats...in fact, blast beats to be exact. I personally think that if you can hear the space in a blast beat, it can have groove....