UW Emerged From Spring Ball Without Determining No. 1 Kicker
Through 15 University of Washington spring football practices, no one asked about the place-kickers, requested to speak to these players or even wrote about them ... except our FanNation/SI website.
As the Huskies wrapped up their April workouts, top kicking candidates Grady Gross and Addison Shrock expressed downright surprise when our photographer Skylar Lin showed up one day at the isolated east practice field to capture images of them.
No one ever does that, they told him.
Somewhat anonymously, which is usually the case for their position, Gross and Shrock are sophomores bidding for the Huskies' No. 1 kicking job.
One's right-footed, the other a lefty.
They wear somewhat obscure numbers, or whatever was left when they showed up, in this case 95 and 85.
They're walk-ons, which means they don't have scholarships yet.
Often they practice alone from the majority of Husky football players, passing the time as their own little team within the team.
They largely go unnoticed throughout the spring, fall and even on game day, until just a few minutes or mere seconds remain on the clock and the outcome of the game suddenly is on the line, say against Oregon or Oregon State — and one of them is sent on to the field, with heart pounding, to decide everything.
Gross and Shrock are bidding for this badge of honor, to become the first new Husky kicker in six seasons, to replace the departed Peyton Henry once the latter couldn't unearth any more college eligibility after arriving in 2017.
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Addison Shrock and Grady Gross bring left- and right-footed kickers to the Husky competition to replace the graduated Peyton Henry, who was a lefty.
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Addison Shrock puts his leg into a spring practice kick, launching one over his line of blockers in Husky Stadium.
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When he doesn't have a human holder available, Addison Shrock kicks the ball using the modern-day practice tee.
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Grady Gross, who served as a kickoff man in 2022, watches his kick attempt sail end over end, as does holder and new punter Adam Saul.
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In the final spring scrimmage, Addison Shrock attempts a kick with starting punter Jack McCallister serving as his holder. Shrock kicked a PAT against Colorado last season.
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Grady Gross has a long field goal of 52 yards at Horizon High School in Arizona.
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Grady Gross kicked for three seasons for Horizon High School, which also answers to the nickname Huskies, and shared in a 5A Arizona state championship.
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In three high school seasons in Arizona, Grady Gross converted 120 of 122 extra-point kicks and 20 of 23 field-goal attempts, with a long of 52 yards.
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Grady Gross, shown here in the Apple Cup, handled the Husky kickoff chores in 12 of 13 games last season, taking over for Peyton Henry in the second outing.
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Addison Shrock (85) and Grady Gross (95) together hustle to the locker room once this Husky spring practice session came to a close.
In one of coach Kalen DeBoer's final spring briefings, he said there was no obvious leader yet in the kicking competition, no set order to how Gross and Shrock were going about launching practice kicks, that everything pretty much was still up in the air.
The Husky leader said he was happy with both, that every practice kick was being recorded and he seemed to relish the fact that he had a righty and a lefty in this kick-off.
It was almost implied that DeBoer might use these guys in the coming season depending on the angle of kick rather than solely relying on straight-on leg strength.
Gross hails from Arizona, from the suburbs of Phoenix, while Shrock grew up in the Bellingham, Washington, area north of Montlake. Gross handled kickoffs in all but one game last season, while Shrock was sent into the Colorado game for the final PAT attempt in a 54-7 victory and he made it. Previously, both were soccer players. They appear to be friends as well as teammates.
They're clearly making progress. After all, they've been photographed and interviewed when often that's just not the case for a UW kicker.
Until everything is on the line, of course.
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