Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Rising to Anderson’s challenge
ASU’s Grupe thriving after coach calls out kicker
JONESBORO — They were the type of comments that can either rattle or reinvigorate a player’s psyche.
On July 22, as he stood at a podium inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans and addressed reporters at the Sun Belt Conference media day, Arkansas State University Coach Blake Anderson issued what sounded eerily close to a warning when discussing the Red Wolves’ uncertain kicking position with fall camp approaching.
Anderson had said he felt “pretty nervous” about the position and that “kicking field goals has been our nemesis over the last couple years.”
What he said next, though, wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of sophomore Blake Grupe, the returning starter.
“We recruited Tristan Mattson this summer to come in and hopefully take over that job,” Anderson said. “I know Grupe is going to do everything he can to try to hold on to that, but we’ve got to become more consistent. It is one of those positions that would have won a game or two more over the course of the last couple years, and we’re a game or two away from holding a trophy every year. So we want to make sure we fix that.”
Grupe had heard a similar message from Anderson a few months prior. The two met at the conclusion of spring camp, and Anderson made it clear that Grupe’s spot would be up for grabs this season.
“He told me what I really needed to hear,” Grupe said Wednesday, “and I’m glad he did because I feel like I’m better because of it.”
So what did Grupe think of Anderson’s comments in New Orleans?
“You see that kind of stuff. For me, that’s just motivation,” Grupe said. “You don’t let it hurt your confidence. I mean, yeah, seeing that, it shows you what everybody thinks and it shows you really no matter how you felt, that’s what happens.”
Five games into this season, the fix at place-kicking has not come in the form of Tristan Mattson, the highly touted true freshman from Clarkston, Mich.
It’s been in the 5-8, 150-pound Grupe, the guy who Anderson has openly said he wanted Mattson to replace.
“[Grupe will] tell you I was hard on him in the offseason,” Anderson said Wednesday. “I challenged him, told him we were going to take his job, just prepared him that we’re going to bring somebody in here to take your job, so if you want it you better work your tail off, and that’s exactly what he’s done. So I’ve been really proud of him.”
Grupe has been rock solid this season and met Anderson’s challenge.
He’s made 7 of 8 field-goal attempts, his lone miss coming from 50 yards at No. 3 Georgia — a game in which the Red Wolves were blown out 55-0. Grupe is also 19 of 20 on extra points. His 87.5 percent field goal rate ranks third in the Sun Belt and his longest made kick is from 43 yards.
His teammates have seen a different player from a season ago.
“Last year wasn’t his year, but the offseason, he really improved,” sophomore running back Marcel Murray said. “I see him when I come out here and do drills, he’s out here kicking balls. So just the extra work he put in really helped him.”
Before he arrived at ASU, Grupe was a three-sport star in football, soccer and baseball at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Mo. Soccer was his biggest passion growing up, and he didn’t even start kicking a football until he was a sophomore in high school.
“I really didn’t take it seriously until the summer before my senior year,” Grupe said, “and then it really started progressing and rolling.”
Grupe was named all-state in football and soccer as a senior. He set Smith-Cotton’s single-season and career records for most made field goals.
While he had some opportunities to play soccer in college, Grupe chose football and signed with ASU, following a similar path of his father, Brad. Grupe’s father had played college soccer at Southeast Missouri State, but when the men’s team was cut, he tried out for the football team as a kicker and made it.
Grupe said he still misses playing soccer and even occasionally dabbles in some intramurals. But nothing, he said, compares to playing bigtime college football.
“Now I would not trade it for the world,” Grupe said. “I freaking love it out here. Everything around it — just the hype, the camaraderie with the team, just the awareness of the sport with the school and the community.”
Grupe redshirted his first year at ASU in 2017. Last year, after replacing Sawyer Williams as the starter in Week 3 against Tulsa, Grupe struggled at times and finished the season 14 of 21 on field-goals attempts, which ranked seventh in the Sun Belt.
“Stuff didn’t work out my way, but I mean, that’s part of growing pains for me,” Grupe said. “I learned how to deal with disappointment and deal with controversy and not getting the job done, and that’s just motivation.”
There’s still plenty of season remaining this year, but so far Grupe has rebounded from last season and provided the stability at kicker that Anderson desperately had hoped for.