Husky Kicker Might Be Spring Football's Best Position Battle

Peyton Henry is gone after making 71 field goals and 189 conversion kicks.

Peyton Henry was part of the University of Washington football team for so long, he kicked during three of Chris Petersen's six seasons as head coach.

A Danville, California, native, he kicked throughout Jimmy Lake's not quite two full seasons as the Husky sideline leader.

He handled the place-kicking responsibilities throughout Kalen DeBoer's initial campaign in charge.

Yet the indefatigable Henry — after converting 189 of 192 extra-point kicks and 71 of 88 field goals in his long-winding career — has left the building, presumably to see if he can find similar steady work in the NFL.

OK, now what?

While everything else seemingly has fallen into place for the next Husky team, with 14 starters returning and most replacements easily identified, the kicker post-Peyton Henry remains the great unknown. 

For the past five years, Henry handled every single field-goal attempt, plus all extra-point kicks except four, with the departed Tim Horn converting three of those in 2021 and holdover Addison Shrock connecting on the other stray conversion this past fall.

For an experienced point-maker, the 6-foot-1, 183-pound Shrock, a sophomore from Bellingham, Washington, is all the Huskies have on the roster right now. 

One extra point against Colorado last November. One swing of his leg. That's it.

Barring any late pickups, Shrock, Grady Gross and incoming walk-on Troy Petz will compete for Henry's old job. All are walk-ons.

Departed kicker Peyton Henry (47), starting punter Jack McCallister (38), departed punter Kevin Ryan (90), kicker Addison Shrock (85), long snapper Alex Froelich (49) and kicker Grady Gross (95) head for the locker room / Dan Raley

Shrock has been with Huskies for the past three seasons, waiting his big chance, after playing just one high school season for Squalicum High School. He set a school record with 45 extra points in 2019.

Gross, who handled UW kickoffs in every game except one last season as a freshman, has the most potential to slide over and be the next Henry.

A compact 5-foot-11, 213-pounder, Gross became a prolific kicker in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Horizon High Huskies, converting 120 of 122 extra points and 20 of 23 field goals in his career.

As a senior in 2021, he was good on 12 of 15 three-pointers, with a long of 52 yards, while helping his team win a 5A state championship. 

Petz will join the Huskies from Lynden High's 13-0 state-title team after converting 5 of 7 field-goal attempts and serving as the punter, too.

In recent seasons, the Huskies tried to recruit kickers and punters with scholarships, but that's not happening here, at least not yet. However, Horn couldn't beat out Henry, handling only kickoffs for a couple of seasons, and he transferred to Rice. Punters Triston Brown and Kevin Ryan were brought in as transfers from the JC ranks and Idaho State and given scholarships, but couldn't displace the others. 

In two and a half months, the kicking competition might provide the most suspense among all of the position battles when spring football begins. 

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