Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer will make his second career start against his hometown team Saturday at the Horeshoe. Credit: Joe Hermitt via TNS
Wade Bartholomew had only been on the job a few weeks when he first met Ethan Grunkemeyer.
It was 2022 and Bartholomew was the newly named head football coach. He stopped by a basketball game to get a feel for his new school.
Grunkemeyer, a skinny sophomore on the team, made a beeline for the stands as soon as the final buzzer sounded.
“He came right up to me and said, ‘Hey, when are we going to start working together?'” Bartholomew recalled. “I told him, ‘Ethan, you’re in basketball season right now,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, but quarterback’s my thing.'”
It was Bartholomew’s first impression of the quarterback who would define his early years at Olentangy.
“It was really cool to know that I had a kid who loved the game,” Bartholomew said. “He made such a great impression.”
On Saturday, that same kid will walk into Ohio Stadium to face the team he grew up watching as Penn State’s starting quarterback.
“Since I was a kid, I dreamed about playing in that stadium,” Grunkemeyer said. “So it’s going to be cool to go back home and be able to have the chance to do that.”
Grunkemeyer grew up 20 minutes north of Ohio State’s campus. His mother, Megan McCabe, played basketball for Ohio State, and his other mother, Heather Grunkemeyer, is a chemistry professor at Ohio Wesleyan.
When Grunkemeyer began making a name for himself on his high school team, it became evident to teammates and coaches that he approached football differently. He craved coaching more than anyone Bartholomew had encountered in his decades on the sidelines.
“He’d get frustrated if I didn’t coach him up,” Bartholomew said. “I thought that was a really neat thing, and it told me that I had a kid who wanted to become the best he could possibly become every single rep.”
Grunkemeyer began filling out his 6-foot-2 frame before his junior season, and his accuracy and arm strength impressed his coaches. He finished the season with 2,519 passing yards and 25 touchdowns, catching the attention of recruiters from regional MAC schools.
In the spring, before his senior season, he was named the On3 MVP of Day One at an Elite 11 camp, and his stock skyrocketed.
He received 30 offers from schools across the country and committed to Penn State in May, before his senior season began. Ohio State did not make him an offer.
After appearing in one game during his freshman season with the Nittany Lions, Grunkemeyer was the next man up in his sophomore season when starter Drew Allar went down against Northwestern with a season-ending injury.
He made his first career start against Iowa a week later, throwing for 93 yards and two interceptions in a 25-24 loss. Two weeks later, Grunkemeyer will make his second collegiate start against a Buckeye team ranked No. 1 in the country.
For Bartholomew, it’s hard to believe the same skinny sophomore who approached him in the bleachers two years ago will be performing on one of college football’s biggest stages.
“Two years ago, he was sitting in my house going over game plans, and now he’s starting at Penn State against Ohio State,” Bartholomew said. “It’s special.”
When asked what he’d tell his former quarterback before kickoff, Bartholomew leaned on his favorite movie reference, a lesson about confidence from Will Smith’s “Hitch.” In the film, Smith’s character reminds a nervous client that confidence comes from knowing you already belong.
“Penn State already said yes,” Bartholomew explained. “They knew he was one of the top quarterbacks in the country. They’re putting him in this position because they believe he can do it. He doesn’t need to prove anything anymore. He doesn’t need to be anybody but himself, because they’ve already said yes, and they know he’s good enough.”
