Grady Gross Has A Leg Up as Washington's Next Kicker

Eric Schmidt named the kicker from Arizona as the choice to start the 2023 season.

On Wednesday, special-teams coordinator Eric Schmidt said the coaching staff is "leaning towards" Grady Gross as the choice to be Washington's next kicker. The sophomore from Scottsdale, Arizona, has been consistent throughout fall camp but has big shoes to fill.

Washington's coaching staff was looking for a kicker for the first time since 2018 when Peyton Henry won the job and held onto it through last season. Henry left Washington as the team's all-time leading scorer, finishing his Husky career with 402 points, as one of just four Pac-12 players to score over 400 points in his career.

Stability is the name of the game when it comes to kicking and special teams and that's something Henry provided, making kicks at an 80.6 percent clip during his time in college, which earned him a place on the All Pac-12 second team in both 2019 and 2022.

It's always tough to predict what a kicker is going to do under the bright lights on Saturdays, but Schmidt said that in order to keep some pressure off of Gross, the team isn't going to have him focus on kickoffs, a duty that will go to Addison Shrock. 

Schmidt said it helped Henry by not having to kick off, deferring to Gross after he handled all kicking responsibilities in last year's opener against Kent State. 

The Huskies have a chance to make a run at the Pac-12 championship during their final year in the conference and kicking could be the difference in close games.

Washington's record in one-possession games in 2022 was 4-2 and 2-0 in games decided by three points or less, thanks to game-winning kicks by Henry against Oregon and Oregon State.

If Gross proves that he can hold up against the pressure of kicking in college football, the Huskies could be set at kicker for the next three years.

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