Gross Gets a Bye Week Tutorial in Relaxing and Kicking True

The Husky field-goal specialist has missed 6 of his past 10 attempts.

Grady Gross kicks a successful field goal against Michigan. / Skylar Lin Visuals

Grady Gross, after stubbing his usually accurate toe at Rutgers and Iowa, finds himself at Indiana this weekend hoping he and his University of Washington teammates have solved all of their special-teams issues.

When Gross wasn't pushing a number of field-goal attempts to the left, some of his blockers have failed him by letting opposing players come through open lanes to swat down a couple of kicks.

It was an area that wasn't supposed to be a problem this season with Gross becoming a very steady kicker in 2023 by converting 18 of 22 three-pointers for the national runner-up team with plenty of protection.

"I think Grady knows he's got a responsibility to get it through the uprights," UW coach Jedd Fisch said.

The Huskies spent part of the bye week trying to repair a kicking game that went sideways over the past three games with Gross missing 6 of his past 10 tries, with two getting blocked.

The misses undoubtedly cost Fisch's team the Rutgers game, which ended in a 21-18 loss with a last-play 55-yarder to tie from Gross pushed left. His misses really had no bearing on the UW's 40-16 beatdown at Iowa.

While the Huskies earlier called in a consultant to try and get the kicker back on track, the coaching staff basically has tried to get Gross back in a relaxed mode as he sizes up his opportunities.

Last Sunday at the end of practice, Fisch gathered his players around Gross and put the kicker on the spot. Make a 48-yarder and he and his fellow Huskies wouldn't have to run four gassers -- each one covering 100 yards.

"He nailed it through the uprights," the coach said. "The team was very excited that it didn't have to run and he felt good about making that kick."

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