Grant Ryerse, 6-foot-3, 220-pound junior kicker from East Ridge, already landed a scholarship offer from Minnesota as a sophomore. Ryerse has helped lead the Raptors to Friday’s Prep Bowl title game.
Gopher Hole caught up with Ryerse Sunday to learn the latest on his recruitment and his current season.
Gopher Hole: You advanced to the state championship game with back-to-back close wins. What was the feeling after winning the semifinal game Friday and knowing that you are going to be playing in the Prep Bowl this week?
Grant Ryerse: It was surreal. This has been a goal all year. This is what we were focused on from the start. Everybody has been working towards it. We haven’t perfected everything yet and the feeling was that everything pays off if you know that you are going to the championship. It is an awesome feeling and everybody on our team is feeling it.
Gopher Hole: The quarterfinal game, you kicked the game-winning 42-yard field goal. How many game-winners had you kicked before in your career?
Grant Ryerse: That was my first legitimate game-winner with no time left on the clock. I had a go-ahead field goal with three or four minutes left last year against Osseo in the section semis.
Gopher Hole: What is that feeling like kicking the game-winner to get to the semifinals?
Grant Ryerse: It is great. Everything I have really trained for paid off. Everything that our special teams unit had done the whole year, came down to that. We had done that hundreds of times before in practice and games and it all worked out right there, so it was great.
Gopher Hole: Do you ever get nervous at all?
Grant Ryerse: Yes, I was a little nervous, but part of the deal with kickers is that we channel that nervousness to be a little more focused and use your tunnel vision to focus on the ball, the hold and the uprights.
Gopher Hole: I was at your season opener against Lakeville North, a very good team that you lost to and a lot of people wondered with all the turmoil around the program what kind of season you would even have this year? Does that make it even more rewarding knowing that a lot of people doubted how good East Ridge would be this season?
Grant Ryerse: Yes. It makes it a lot more rewarding. Some people didn’t think that we could really turn it around, but the most important thing that everybody at East Ridge did was we put our heads down and grinded through it. We focused on what we could control at that point and that was to just make ourselves better and do what we could do to win.
Gopher Hole: It is almost like a Disney movie. You lose your star quarterback (Oregon commit Seth Green, who transferred to a high school in Oregon), your talented defensive lineman (one-time Minnesota commit JoJo Garcia), your head coach and your athletic director. It seemed like everything was stacked against you. Is that something you guys talked about trying to overcome all the obstacles thrown at you?
Grant Ryerse: In our first meeting with Coach Fritze, it was talked about a little bit, but we tried to “It had happened, we can’t control it anymore.” We were just trying to move on and we had bigger things to focus on and spend our energy on rather than dwell in the past.
Gopher Hole: You are playing in the championship game. What do you know about your opponent?
Grant Ryerse: I haven’t watched much film yet because I am more of a just special teams’ guy, so I’ll make that I watch a lot of their rushes and return techniques. I don’t really know much now, but I’ll figure out more in the film sessions tomorrow.
Gopher Hole: What has been the reaction of the students and the people in the community been like?
Grant Ryerse: Everybody’s super pumped. They know what a turnaround it has been for our school. It is a big deal. People are having a fun time and supporting East Ridge and hoping that he can pull it out and get the win.
Gopher Hole: You were named to the KARE-11 All-Metro team over the weekend as the kicker. How proud does that make you feel to receive that type of recognition?
Grant Ryerse: It’s awesome. It is a milestone that I have reached. It has been a goal of mine and I am thankful for everyone who has made that possible, the line, the snappers and the holders and all the coaches. It is great. It is a great accolade, but I just want to win the state championship more than anything else.
Gopher Hole: What would it mean to win the state title?
Grant Ryerse: Oh, everything. You know, you play in the back yard as a kid and you play for the Super Bowl or you are playing for the state championship. I’ve been dreaming about that for years.
Gopher Hole: You were at the Michigan game, where the Gophers played well, but just came up a bit short. What was the experience like being at the game?
Grant Ryerse: It was a great experience. I hadn’t been to a night game there. We had a game the night of the TCU game, which I wanted to go to, but it was great. It was a little bit of a different environment than the day games, but it was really cool to see two big-time teams going against each other under the lights on Halloween night. The fans and the students were pretty energetic and it was a great experience.
Gopher Hole: Does that get you excited about the prospect of playing Division I football?
Grant Ryerse: Yes. Every time that you see how many eyes are on you at a game and you get that experiences ‘Like Wow, I could be doing this in the next two or three years.: It is pretty crazy to think about.
Gopher Hole: What camps did you get a chance to attend this summer?
Grant Ryerse: This summer, I went to Minnesota’s specialists camp and the University of Washington’s specialists camp. I also did a Chris Sailer (a kicking guru) invitational camp in Los Angeles.
Gopher Hole: You had done some specialty camps in the past. How much do you think that helps you improve as a kicker when you go to camps where the instructors are kicking coaches who are giving you tips?
Grant Ryerse: It helps a lot. To get all the different coaches and their opinions on your form. It helps a lot. It also helps the mental game. It goes back to the game-winning kicks, the high pressure kicks. You have those in camps in the competitions and I really think that helped me so much. In competitions at camps, everyone is watching you and you have to make the kick or you are out, so it is a great experience all the way around. Technical training and good game experience.
Gopher Hole: Has you technique changed much from last year to this year or is it pretty much the same?
Grant Ryerse: I changed it up a little. Last year, I had a little stutter in my step and this year, I fixed that and also, I am more narrow towards the ball this year.
Gopher Hole: Are there things in the future that you are going to work on to improve as a kicker or do you think that the style that you have now is going to get to play at the collegiate level?
Grant Ryerse: I am really comfortable with my style now, but I know when I try to go off the ground, that some things could change. Hopefully, I keep a similar style, but whatever will get me better and whatever will produce the best results, that is what I will use.
Gopher Hole: What schools are you hearing from right now?
Grant Ryerse: I am hearing from a couple of Big Ten schools. I am hearing from Minnesota, obviously, Purdue, Michigan State, Northwestern, Indiana, Cal. I have heard from Stanford, Bowling Green, Navy and Vanderbilt.
Gopher Hole: I know that you are a really good student. I know that it is still early being only a junior, but have you thought much about what you would want to study or what you would like to major in at college?
Grant Ryerse: I would like to go into engineering. In the end, I would like to be a doctor, so certain types of engineering could really help me reach that goal, so I am looking for more of a mechanical engineering programs.
Gopher Hole: Have you started to look at certain colleges that have that type of major or are among the top schools in the country in that field or haven’t you gotten start on that quite yet?
Grant Ryerse: I started doing that quite a bit, actually. My parents have been really helpful in the process. When I am looking for a college, the majors are definitely a big things for me, because at the end of the day, academics are really going to rule what you are doing for most of your life.
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Gopher Hole: You are in a unique situation because a lot of kickers at many schools are walk-ons who earn a scholarship, where you have one offer already. Does that make it a little different for you in terms of looking for schools?
Grant Ryerse: It has changed my outlook little bit. I haven’t completely changed what I think I normally do.
Gopher Hole: You are a little bit bigger kicker and you told me previously that you look at Minnesota kicker Ryan Santoso (who is listed at 6-foot-6, 245-pounds) and watch him. What have you learned from watching him and watching his videos?
Grant Ryerse: What I see in him is that he uses his height really well, because he has really long legs. He uses that to get his power by snapping his leg to the ball and his flexibility. He has a huge range of motion. I think that helps him a lot. He gets a lot of power behind the ball and follows through with a strong swing.
Gopher Hole: When you watch football, do you watch all the games or do you focus on the kicker?
Grant Ryerse: I watch it, but I definitely perk up more when it comes to the special teams part of it.
Gopher Hole: Who are some of the kickers that you watch the most or try to emulate or copy them a little bit either collegiately or in the pros that you watch more than others?
Grant Ryerse: Oh, yes. For punting, I really like J. J. Scott of Alabama. He has a fluid motion and a very flexible guy. I think that helps him a lot. Ryan Santoso. I really like watching him. We are similar builds and he is so fluid in his motion. It is nice to watch. Professional, I like watching Justin Tucker (Baltimore’s kicker).
Gopher Hole: Your strengths is as a kicker, but you have improved quite a bit as a punter. Would you try to do both in college or would you try to focus on just one. Have you thought that far yet?
Grant Ryerse: I’ve thought about it, but it is really up to the situation that I go into. Whatever the coaches needs, I’ll fill that role and I’ll do my best to perfect that. I really wouldn’t care what I played in college. Anything to get me on the field to fill my role.
Gopher Hole: I think that the feeling is that you can definitely kick at a collegiate level. Do you think that you are a strong enough punter right now that you could punt at a high major school or is that something that you want to continue to improve on?
Grant Ryerse: It is definitely something that I would like to continue to improve on. I think that my mechanics need to be built on a little bit more in order to be able to do that at a high level, but it is definitely something that I would do. I enjoy punting quite a bit. It is more of a challenge than the other two (placekicking and kick offs) and that is really appealing to me.