Jacob Lauing
jacoblauing.md@gmail.com
“How late am I?” he said with a smile.
Coming from a guy who’s played four different positions since high school, trained with professional football players in the offseason and is a business administration major with a concentration in industrial technology, it’s nice to know punctuality is still a priority for junior defensive tackle Sullivan Grosz.
The interview was scheduled for 10 a.m. outside Mott Gym.
It was 9:56 a.m.
With a constant drive for perfection like this, Grosz has made a name for himself on the Cal Poly football team this season.
“He’s playing at an All-American level,” head coach Tim Walsh said. “He’s playing like we thought he could play all along. He plays as hard and as well as he can. He’s extremely strong in the weight room and extremely quick for a guy that plays his position.”
And while his monstrous 6-foot-4, 280-pound physique has helped him earn a spot on the College Sports Madness All-Big Sky Conference preseason second team, Grosz is anything but a monster off the field.
“He’s a big boy,” redshirt freshman linebacker Joseph Gigantino said. “But he is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.”
Gigantino lived with Grosz and linebacker Johnny Millard during training camp this summer.
“You’d think he’d be this big, tough guy,” Gigantino said. “He is, but he is such a nice guy. My parents felt comfortable with me living there because of how respectful Sullivan was to my family and myself.“
All-around success is nothing new for Grosz. The Fresno, Calif. native has been building that type of résumé for a few years now.
Grosz became a football team captain, academic award winner, student body vice president and homecoming king, all while on the honor roll with a 4.10 Grade Point Average at San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno.
He then became a member of Walsh’s first recruiting class at Cal Poly, and played all 11 games in each of his first two seasons, earning him a spot on the 2012 College Football Performance Awards preseason watch list for this season.
“Last year, we graduated nine seniors on the (defensive) line,” Grosz said. “I knew I had to be a predominate player and a predominate leader on the team. I knew I had to be a good example for a lot of the younger guys. You can’t take any days off. You not only have to focus on yourself but helping others.”
This leadership stems not from his voice on the team, but from a subtle yet powerful veteran presence, and a work ethic his teammates can’t help but gravitate toward.
“He’s a quiet leader,” Walsh said. “He’s not talking all the time, but when he needs to speak, he’ll speak. And they listen.”
Gigantino is one of those players.
“As a freshman, I have a lot of respect for Sullivan,” Gigantino said. “He goes hard every single play. He just has a passion for the game and he shows that on the field with his work ethic.”
Grosz is never satisfied. He’s always finding a way to improve, and, as Walsh puts it, he is a student of the game.
“He really studies the techniques that are involved in playing his position,” Walsh said. “The biggest thing you can say about him is to watch him to continue to grow even though he is a pretty good product as is.”
Grosz spent spring break 2011 in Tampa Bay with Millard, whose father, Keith, was a defensive line coach for the Buccaneers at the time. This summer the two defenders spent nearly three weeks in Nashville training with the defensive line of the team Keith currently coaches, the Tennessee Titans.
“Whether he is in the weight room or watching film, he sets a good example and has lead our defense to a pretty good record this year,” Gigantino said.
The Mustangs (7-2, 5-1 Big Sky) rank amongst the Big Sky’s top defensive programs in rushing defense and passing defense efficiency. They have limited opponents to an average 24.2 points per game, which helped them achieve a 7-0 start to the season.
But after breaking their undefeated run with two consecutive losses to Sacramento State (6-4, 4-3 Big Sky) and Eastern Washington (7-2, 5-1 Big Sky), Grosz and the Mustangs will host Idaho State (1-8, 0-6 Big Sky) this Saturday at 6 p.m. in the season’s final home game at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
“Each week is a new week,” Grosz said. “Each team is a new team. Even though you might have won on Saturday or even lost on Saturday, you start over come Monday. You can’t grieve or celebrate on the past too soon because there’s more to come.”
The Mustangs may have to use that attitude this weekend, as they need victories in their final two games against Idaho State and first place Northern Arizona (8-1, 6-0 Big Sky) on Nov. 17 to secure a share of the Big Sky title.
“We have two weeks to win a championship,” Walsh said. “It’s not like we lost everything by losing. We’ve got to get back to our 35-40 points a game and we’ve got to play better pass defense. (Idaho State is) better than their record indicates because they can throw the ball around.”
The Bengals have relied on their passing offense this year, as they lead the Big Sky with an average 360.8 yards in passing offense per game, more than double Cal Poly’s 114.2. The Mustangs will need strong defense from Grosz and the entire defense to bounce back and snap their losing streak.
“Guys are going to be down,” Grosz said. “But we’ve got to rise above and use that as a fire to get better and try. The team is going to be prepared, and I’ll be prepared. Stats are important, but they’re not everything. Having stats as an entire defense is more important.”
This weekend’s game aside, while Grosz is over-the-top when it comes to modesty, he does have some lofty goals of his own, particularly for his post-Cal Poly career.
“I want to go to the NFL,” Grosz said. “I want to play at the next level. I’m going to do whatever I can to get there. I’m not only going to get there, I’m going to fight to stay there. I’m going to get better and learn.”
Regardless of whether he gets there or not, his peers describe his personality in many ways. Millard tried to summarize Grosz in three words. He used six.
“Determined. A great leader. Funny/ridiculous.”
Walsh put it simply.
“If you scripted a career,” Walsh said. “You’d script it like Sullivan Grosz’s.”