As the final seconds ran off the clock and fans stormed the field after Penn State’s dramatic White Out win over Ohio State in 2016, a young Buckeyes fan watched from the stands.
Decked out in Ohio State gear — like the rest of the fans seated high up in the far corner of Beaver Stadium — this was not the ending young Ethan Grunkemeyer and his family of Ohio State fans envisioned when they made the five-hour drive to Happy Valley.
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“I remember it pretty vividly,” said Grunkemeyer, now a Class of 2024 quarterback prospect at Olentangy High in Lewis Center, Ohio.
The atmosphere that night still left quite an impression on the kid who grew up going to games at Ohio Stadium.
“Just to hear the crowd roar was something. The White Out was crazy,” said Grunkemeyer, whose mom is an Ohio State grad. “I’ve been to a million Buckeye games, so those guys playing in front of that crowd, it was really something.”
When Grunkemeyer takes an unofficial visit to Penn State on Wednesday, he’s doing so as one of the fastest-rising quarterbacks in the 2024 cycle. Interest in the 6-foot-2, 190-pound prospect has grown this spring as college coaches have flocked to Olentangy’s gymnasium to watch Grunkemeyer throw — and perhaps figure out what they’ve been missing on their evaluations until now.
After a great conversation with @Coach_Yurcich I’m blessed to say I’ve received an offer from Penn State University!! @coachjfranklin @DannyOBrienQB @OHSBravesFB @CoachBart11 @AllenTrieu @MickWalker247 @SWiltfong247 @OhioPrepsRivals @Mark__Porter @adamgorney @AllenTrieu
— Ethan Grunkemeyer (@e_grunkemeyer) April 21, 2023
Count Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, a Euclid, Ohio, native, among those who wanted to see Grunkemeyer again last month before Penn State extended an offer. Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley was at the high school last week.
Grunkemeyer said he’d like to commit to a school before the summer camp circuit starts in June.
“After a few of those throwing sessions, I’ve kind of been blowing up, for lack of a better term,” said Grunkemeyer, a three-star prospect who ranks No. 760 overall in the 247Sports Composite. “It just kind of came really quick now.”
In April, Northwestern, Indiana, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Penn State and Virginia extended scholarship offers. The Power 5 schools joined a list of MAC and Ivy League programs that have long been intrigued by the Ohio prospect whose high school is 15 minutes north of Columbus.
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Getting to this point hasn’t been easy.
“I joke with my wife that I now feel like I talk to college quarterback coaches more than I do her because I feel like I’m constantly on the phone with those guys who are interested in Ethan and trying to schedule it all out,” said Wade Bartholomew, the head football coach at Olentangy. “I just want to get as many bodies and eyes here to see him because from the get-go I thought we had somebody special.
“When coach (Mike) Bajakian came in from Northwestern (this spring) and he said, ‘Hey, we think we’re going to offer this kid. We think he’s progressed into a Division I kid,’ my statement to him was, ‘It’s about time.’ I felt like for the past year, I’ve been trying to sell this kid to everybody.”
The one school that has not been involved is Ohio State. The Buckeyes thought they had their Class of 2024 quarterback when Dylan Raiola, the No. 1 prospect in the nation, committed last summer. Raiola has since decommitted, but Ohio State still didn’t show an interest in Grunkemeyer and recently added top-100 prospect Air Noland to its class. And it’s not as though Ohio State football coach Ryan Day is unfamiliar with the high school. His son, RJ, is a Class of 2027 QB who is set to attend Olentangy next fall.
Bartholomew first saw Grunkemeyer in January 2022 after taking over as Olentangy’s head coach, and he couldn’t understand why the quarterback wasn’t garnering any interest from Power 5 programs. With the benefit of hindsight, he says maybe it was because Grunkemeyer was only 175 pounds and his sophomore film didn’t pop.
Grunkemeyer’s family traversed the country last summer, attending as many camps as possible so schools could get their own measurements and see him in person. Offers didn’t follow.
Grunkemeyer’s lone offer until the start of this year was from Miami (Ohio). Bowling Green followed in January, and then came offers from Yale, Western Michigan and Akron. Still, the kid who dreamed of playing in front of the kind of sold-out crowds he was a part of as a young fan wasn’t garnering big-time interest.
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“Being patient with it all is a big thing,” Grunkemeyer said. “You start to get frustrated because you put in all the work and whatnot and you feel like you are good enough to earn a chance at it, so it was definitely frustrating. I kind of just put my head down and kept working, hoping that good things would happen.”
2024 Olentangy (OH) QB Ethan Grunkemeyer is possibly the hottest ‘24 QB in the nation and it’s about to get hotter! A few shots from the Under Armor Next camp in Columbus last weekend 🎯#QBX🎯💪🌪
— Brad Maendler (@BradMaendler) May 10, 2023
Olentangy tweaked its scheme last offseason to take advantage of the strengths of its emerging quarterback who had grown to 190 pounds and improved his arm strength while working with Brad Maendler of QB Excelerate. Part of this tweak for Bartholomew involved connecting with Larry Laird, the head coach at Medina High, about 90 minutes northeast of Lewis Center.
Two seasons ago, the Battling Bees were led by a quarterback who also grew up dreaming of one day suiting up for the Buckeyes. Before Drew Allar became the can’t-miss, five-star prospect at Medina, the current Penn State quarterback was the kid who spent time during the pandemic improving his mechanics. Medina’s offense was then built around Allar’s big right arm. Allar still trains with Maendler at QB Excelerate.
“I went up and talked to the coach at Medina about what they did and what some of the things (were that) they felt like worked for them with Drew,” Bartholomew said. “We stole a few of the things they did last year and even this year. … Ethan’s forte is letting the ball go and slinging it. We threw it about 70 percent of the time last year. We’re not as open as the Allar kid’s offense was, but we tried to do some of those things that Drew was able to do his junior and senior year.”
Grunkemeyer completed 241 of 375 attempts this past season for 2,649 yards and 25 touchdowns. Bartholomew said his quarterback showed he’s willing to stay in the pocket and make reads. Grunkemeyer will have the chance to open more eyes later this month when he returns to State College to compete in the Elite 11’s Northeast Regional event that will be held at State College Area High.
“He’s one of those late quarterbacks who has come on the scene,” Bartholomew said. “You’re going to have that every year, right? You’re going to have that initial group of five-star kids who are out there with all those offers, and once those kids decide where they’re going to go, a lot of schools are scrambling around looking for that second-tier kid, and I think they found a diamond in the rough with Ethan.”
Grunkemeyer has trained in Maendler’s program for two years and has gotten to throw with Allar, who has popped in and out during semester breaks.
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Allar’s recruitment — he didn’t earn five-star status until after his senior season — has served as a good reminder for Grunkemeyer.
Penn State’s ability to use the White Out as a recruiting tool has long been to the program’s benefit, but perhaps this time it might just help it in a way nobody could’ve expected when the boy in Ohio State gear watched Grant Haley and Marcus Allen team up for a moment that broke his heart.
“Growing up watching Ohio State play Penn State, it’s always been a battle between those two,” Grunkemeyer said. “It’s really cool to have the opportunity to potentially be a part of that and play in the Big Ten. … I really like what I’ve seen from them. The way they utilize the QB is something of interest for me. I really like it.”
(Photo courtesy of Olentangy High)
