Meet Ethan Grunkemeyer, Penn State's Next Ohio Quarterback
Ethan Grunkemeyer woke up on decision day last spring without having made a decision. The quarterback from Olentangy High School in Ohio had narrowed his list to roughly three schools after a long recruiting process that began quietly but exploded after Grunkemeyer's performance at the Elite 11 Finals this past summer. At around 10 p.m. that night, Grunkemeyer called Penn State coaches James Franklin, Mike Yurcich and Danny O’Brien via FaceTime with some news.
“They were excited. I called maybe a little late,” Grunkemeyer said with a chuckle. “It wasn’t that late, but most of them have kids, so they were probably in bed. But yeah, it was definitely an experience I won’t forget.”
Grunkemeyer publicly announced his commitment to Penn State on May 20 at Olentangy High, located less than 20 miles from Ohio State. A Buckeyes fan for most of his life, Grunkemeyer said he received just a few jabs from teammates about committing to the rival school. He was a 3-star prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite Ranking, and the No. 571 player in the country when he committed. Today, Grunkemeyer is a bona fide 4-star who ranks 153rd nationally as part of Penn State's 11th-ranked class of 2024.
Olentangy High quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer committed to Penn State's 2024 recruiting class in May.
Clare Grant/USA Today Sports
Grunkemeyer’s rapid rise resembles that of another Ohio quarterback with whom Penn State fans are familiar. Both Grunkemeyer and Penn State starter Drew Allar are Ohio natives who work with quarterback trainer Brad Maendler, with whom Grunkemeyer has trained since his sophomore year and whom he credited for a large portion of his development. Grunkemeyer also said he has grown close with Allar, who made him “super confident” in his decision and advised him to enjoy his senior year as much as possible.
“It's been awesome working with him," Grunkemeyer said of Allar. "He's definitely given me some of his opinions on what he would do differently his senior year, things like that. He's just been a super cool, super helpful kind of mentor to ask questions and see how he does things throughout the process.”
Wade Bartholomew became Olentangy's coach at the end of Grunkemeyer’s sophomore season. He said the quarterback was a “skinny kid who had a really good arm” at the time. Grunkemeyer, who also plays basketball, dedicated himself to gaining weight by lifting three to four times a week and pounding protein throughout the calendar year. He now weighs about 195 pounds, having gained about 40 since his sophomore year.
“[He] came out his junior year and played really well and had some really big-time moments, but still wasn't quite thick enough and big enough for big-time programs like Penn State and those guys to come in the door,” Bartholomew said. “Basically, he just grew up. ... I think once they saw that he was going to have that frame to be able to play at the next level along with his arm talent, I think that's when things really started to take off for him. You put him in a gym, you put him on a field with nobody around and receivers running, like I said, I think he's one of the best throwers in the country.”
Grunkemeyer knew he wanted to play big-time college football and devoted the summer before his junior year to visiting about 20 summer camps to catch teams’ attention. Things started small with Ivy League and MAC teams at the end of his junior season, but Bartholomew said the “leg work” flipped once he gained weight in the spring.
Teams came to see Grunkemeyer throw in the mornings at school three to four times a week. Bartholomew mentioned visits and/or offers by Northwestern, Minnesota, Michigan State, Syracuse, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia, Penn State and Clemson, among others, during a three-and-a-half-week period of “absolute chaos.”
“It was like three-and-a-half weeks of just us constantly scheduling coaches coming in and here and there and everywhere. And he was trying to take this visit to Northwestern because they asked him to come or go to Penn State here,” Bartholomew said. “So I know when that three weeks was up and he finally committed to Penn State, he took a really deep breath and just kind of sat back and you know kind of took it all in. Because I know there for a while he was not able to really enjoy it. He was running around like crazy.”
Grunkemeyer said he visited Penn State six or seven times before committing in the spring. The thing that stood out, to both Grunkemeyer and Bartholomew, was Penn State's concerted effort to check on everything that wasn’t related to football.
“One thing that they did more than other schools was trying to connect more on a personal basis. Whether that's Zooms or FaceTimes and trying to get me on campus as much as possible,” Grunkemeyer said. “Really just the comfort and how personal they were in the process.”
“Coach Yurcich came down one time to watch him throw and was awesome," Bartholomew added. "My daughter's always around, so he made time to sit and talk to her and ask how she was doing and the things that she did. He came back out to see Ethan after he committed. He wanted to sit down and talk with me for like an hour about whatever: football, how's my life, how's his life. I just thought that was really, really cool that they were willing to just be people and not these superstar college football coaches.”
Olentangy improved to 7-1 on Friday with a 36-10 victory in which Grunkemeyer threw four touchdown passes. His game included this big play downfield.
Grunkemeyer, who threw for 2,649 yards and 25 touchdowns as a junior, made a big jump this season in confidence and comfort level with the playbook, his coach said. That began to show this past summer, when Grunkemeyer was among the rising stars at the Elite 11 Finals in California. Bartholomew called his quarterback “me on the field” in their second year together, highlighting two areas for improvement: trusting his pocket to hold up under early pressure and being willing to give up on a play when necessary.
“Last year, not that he pressed a ton, but you can tell he was definitely trying to impress people," Bartholomew said. "This year, he shows up and he believes he's the best person on the field. And honestly, in seven games, he has been the best player on the field. He just does what he does best, and that’s sit back there and let the ball go and trust in his receivers and trust the process of the scheme and the progression and doing all those things.”
Grunkemeyer plans to enroll early at Penn State in January, but in the meantime still has goals to accomplish in high school.
“I think so far, we're really happy with how our season has been going. We're 6-1 right now, our goal was to be 7-0, but our main goal was still to make it to the state championship,” he said. “That's still very possible and we're gonna continue to keep working toward it.”
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Max Ralph is a Penn State senior studying Broadcast Journalism with minors in sports studies and Japanese. He previously covered Penn State football for two years with The Daily Collegian and has reported with the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter (X) @maxralph_ and Instagram @mralph_59.
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