Grant Ryerse, 6-foot-3, 215-pound sophomore kicker from East Ridge, has already landed a scholarship offer from Minnesota.
Gophers head coach Jerry Kill and assistant coaches Tracy Claeys, Mike Sherels and Jim Zebrowski were in attendance for their game against Cretin, watching Ryerse and East Ridge junior teammates Seth Green and JoJo Garcia, who also have Minnesota offers.
Gopher Hole caught up with Ryerse to learn the latest on his early recruitment.
Gopher Hole: You are only a sophomore and to be honest a lot of senior kickers don’t even pick up scholarship offers. How pleased were you to receive that first offer?
Grant Ryerse: It was crazy. It was something I never expected and never even really dreamed of until my senior year.
Gopher Hole: Does that give you even more incentive to work harder to continue to get other offers?
Grant Ryerse: Absolutely. I just need to keep working.
Gopher Hole: What do you see as your strengths as a kicker?
Grant Ryerse: Strengths for me are kickoffs. Absolutely. I am working on my punting game and my field goal game, definitely needs work on.
Gopher Hole: You usually kick every kickoff through the end zone. Is that something that you take pride in?
Grant Ryerse: Absolutely. Our whole team takes pride in being able to go out on the field and just start the game out with a bang.
Gopher Hole: Did you get a chance to go to many football camps this summer?
Grant Ryerse: Yes. I went to four. I went to the Gophers, Alabama, Oregon and Stanford.
Gopher Hole: Are you hearing from any other schools besides those four?
Grant Ryerse: I meet with the Tar Heels’ coach and Notre Dame as well.
Gopher Hole: Has it always been a dream to play at the collegiate level?
Grant Ryerse: Always. My dad kicked in college and I knew what I was shooting for at a young age.
Gopher Hole: Where did your dad kick?
Grant Ryerse: My dad kicked at Gustavus.
Gopher Hole: Who is the better kicker?
Grant Ryerse: During his college days, I think we are about even.
Gopher Hole: Have you ever played any other position or have you just focused on kicking?
Grant Ryerse: I focus on kicking, but I have also played tight end and defensive end ever since I started playing football and right now, I am playing backup tight end on JV.
Gopher Hole: You also punt. Is that something that you think that you will try at the collegiate level or would you focus more on just kicking?
Grant Ryerse: I’ll see how it works out. I have been working on it more than kickoffs and more than field goals. I think that it would be a strength of mine, if I could get that down.
Gopher Hole: Obviously, that would make you more versatile and valuable to a team if you could do both, right?
Grant Ryerse: Absolutely. Anything to help the team.
Gopher Hole: What things are you trying to work on to try to improve yourself as a kicker?
Grant Ryerse: Flexibility stuff. Mental toughness is something that I need to work on and just getting the reps in.
Gopher Hole: Are you planning on going to any college football games this fall?
Grant Ryerse: Yes. I am hoping to attend a couple of Gopher games and I haven’t really planned anything else outside of that.
Gopher Hole: Any dates set up yet?
Grant Ryerse: I am still working on that.
Gopher Hole: What would it maybe mean to play for the home state school?
Grant Ryerse: It would be awesome. All of my family is here. It would be fun.