Husky Roster Review: UW Kicker Could Be Gross, Which Wouldn't Be Bad

The Arizonan is in a two-man competition for the job.
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As the University of Washington football team looks for a new foot this season, for someone to pull on the main kicking shoe, the Huskies have been trying on a size GG to see how it fits.

That's Grady Gross, right out of the box.

After five seasons of relying on Peyton Henry for all of the place-kicking duties, the UW is putting a pair of sophomores in Addison Shrock and Gross through the paces to see who's up to the challenge of replacing the departed veteran.

The Huskies so far haven't turned to an experienced kicker in the transfer portal; it's just these two — the young and the untested.

The stocky 5-foot-11, 212-pound Gross would seem to have the early advantage simply because he's game-experienced as the UW kickoff man, having appeared in a dozen games last season as a freshman. He averaged 61 yards on 87 kicks.

"It helps to have that game time because you know what to expect with the fans and the players," Gross said on a windy day in Husky Stadium. "So you feel prepared a lot more when it comes to getting into the game and you're not really so nervous."

Going down the roster from No. 0 to 99, Gross, who wears No. 95 as  a special-teamer, is next up in a series of profiles about each of the Huskies' scholarship players and assorted walk-ons, summing up their spring football performances and surmising what might come next for them.


BIG FOOT / Skylar Lin Visuals

Grady Gross has 12 games of Husky experience, handling the kickoff chores as a walk-on freshman in 2022.


FOOT UNDER FIRE / Skylar Lin Visuals

Grady Gross drew 87 kickoffs for the Huskies, taking advantage of his team's high-scoring offense to get on the field.


PLACE YOUR BETS / Skylar Lin Visuals

Grady Gross and holder Adam Saul watch this spring football kick head for the uprights in April.


RUNWAY APPROACH / Skylar Lin Visuals

Grady Gross leans into his kicking motion as his holder Adam Saul handles the snap and places the ball.


THE CANDIDATES / Skylar Lin Visuals

Addison Shrock (85) and Grady Gross (95), the top candidates for the UW place-kicking job previously held by Peyton Henry, spend a lot of time together.


APPLE READY / Dan Raley

Grady Gross (95) moves down the sideline at Washington State in a high-scoring game that required him to always be ready to go on the field.


DESERT DOG

Grady Gross played for the Horizon High Huskies in Scottsdale, Arizona, before coming to the Montlake Huskies. 


HERE'S THE WIND-UP / Skylar Lin Visuals

Grady Gross takes a big step forward and begins to swing his leg on this spring football kickoff. 


CAMERA SHY / Dan Raley

Addison Shrock (85) and Grady Gross (95) run past the assembled media and bank of cameras as they head for the locker room.


WILLING WALK-ON / UW Athletics

Grady Gross committed and signed with the Huskies shortly after Kalen DeBoer's full staff took over in 2022.



Looking for a place to land as a walk-on, Gross began interacting with Kalen DeBoer's coaching staff in January 2022, in its second month after taking over. 

He went from Huskies to Huskies, accepting a preferred walk-on assignment after kicking for 5A state champion Horizon High School that answers to the UW's canine-related nickname in Scottsdale, Arizona.

For a 12-2 team in 2021, Gross was highly accurate, connecting on all 68 of his extra points and 12 of 15 field-goal attempts, with a long of 52 yards.

"There really wasn't a whole lot of promises," he said of coming to Seattle. "It was just I had to bet on myself. I thought it was a good place to go. Peyton was a good mentor for a year."

Coming out of spring ball, Gross seemed to have the upper hand, make that the upper foot, as he was first in line when the kickers took their best shots. 

In eyeballing the two candidates from afar, Gross appeared to have slightly more accuracy and distance than his counterpart, though both appear capable of handling the job. Every one of their kicks was charted by the coaching staff. 

Still, everything changes once the lights and the game jerseys come on, with the intensity becoming much more of a factor. Shrock has the only college place-kick among them so far, coming with the Huskies safely ahead of Colorado by 46 points when he set himself.

Gross demonstrated he was good under fire against UCLA, using his foot in a different, quick-thinking manner — he stuck it out and tripped up a Bruins kick returner who otherwise would have scored, drawing a penalty but saving a touchdown. 

With his experience on different levels, he understands what he's getting into. It won't be easy.

"I think my high school career has really helped a lot to kind of handle with the pressure," Gross said. "It's a different world out here."


GRADY GROSS FILE

Service: Gross has 12 college games under his belt, taking over the kickoff duties from Henry following the 2022 season opener. 

Stats: With the Huskies' prolific offense scoring time and time again and providing him with plenty of opportunity, he got on the field for 87 kickoffs. 

Role: Gross, with a little more distance and accuracy, would be the starter if the UW had to play today. Finding the No. 1 guy will be a fall camp priority.


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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.