Meet Possibly the Next Husky Place-Kicker, Who's an Unassuming Guy

Grady Gross is back for a second UW season, hoping to replace Peyton Henry.

Several minutes before the majority of University of Washington football players saunter out for Friday's practice, Grady Gross and Addison Shrock take turns launching deep field-goal attempts. 

To the strains of Aerosmith and Dire Straights songs echoing through Husky Stadium, these two kickers display fairly strong leg action as they move between 40 and 50 yards, and send balls sailing end over end. 

Using tees, they set the balls up themselves because their normal holders haven't come out of the locker room yet or have other things to do. 

Typically, UW kickers are left on their own at practice to be resourceful enough to find an open space to kick, get their repetitions in and find a comfortable groove.

Sort of an unassuming guy in this mass of Montlake humanity, Gross is a sophomore walk-on, or non-scholarship player, from Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

He's one of two Huskies who wears jersey No. 95. He stands 5-foot-11 and 212 pounds — or four inches shorter and 104 pounds lighter than the other 95, freshman defensive tackle Armon Parker, one of the powerfully built twins from Detroit.

Gross appears to be the favorite to be the next Husky kicker and step in as a replacement for five-year starter Peyton Henry because of his experience. He was able to get on the field for 12 games in 2022 and handle the kickoff chores while his chief competitor, Shrock, simply made the last extra-point kick in mop-up duty during the UW's 54-7 victory over Colorado.

"There wasn't a whole lot of promises," Gross said of joining Kalen DeBoer's football program. "I had to bet on myself. I thought this was a good place to go. Peyton obviously was going to mentor for a good year. It was great. I got some experience. Kind of the hope is I'd take over this year — that's the goal."

He came to Montlake after helping Horizon, a school that also answers to Huskies, win an Arizona 5A state championship. As a senior, he converted all 68 of his conversion kicks and 12 of 15 field goals, with a long of 52 yards. He also punted, averaging 45.7 yards per kick.

After sitting out the Husky opener last fall, Gross took over the kickoff responsibilities from Henry for the remainder of the season. His time on the field was fairly uneventful other than getting called for a tripping penalty in the open field at UCLA, which likely saved a touchdown.

Unlike other Husky positions, DeBoer and his staff haven't felt the need to turn to the transfer portal here to further ratchet up the kicking competition that involves just these two sophomores, which hasn't gone unnoticed by them.

"I appreciate the loyalty from the coaching staff," Gross said. "I think Addison and I have done real well, so they feel comfortable with us. I'm glad they feel good with us to just go with us."

---

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.