Interview with Elite 11 Finalist and Penn State commit Ethan Grunkemeyer

It was a busy weekend for quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer. The unheralded three-star passer from Olentangy High School in Ohio visited campus on Friday, committed to Penn State on Saturday, and then won the Elite 11 regional camp and received an automatic invite to the finals in California, which start on June 14.

“It’s surreal. All the work I’ve put in the past couple of years is really paying off,” he told Blue White Illustrated after the camp.

He spoke about his time at the Elite 11 camp, discussed his commitment to Penn State, and what he hopes to accomplish next year. Check out the full video and subscribe to Blue White Illustrated on YouTube so you don’t miss exclusive and breaking news content on Penn State recruiting.

Grunkemeyer proves Penn State right with performance

It wasn’t hard to see that Grunkemeyer was one of the top quarterbacks at the camp on Sunday. If his accurate ball placement and impressive arm strength weren’t dead giveaways, the praise from the instructors was.

“Great ball!”

“That’s how you do that. Good!”

“Great control; I loved that.”

Those were just some of the louder and more obvious praises the Penn State commit received during the camp. The camp is broken into a circuit, with each station dedicated to a different phase of the quarterback game. In the first segment, Grunkemeyer’s group worked on evading a sack from the right side and resetting quickly to throw a touchdown to the pylon on an out route. The situation dictates that the quarterback has quick feet, hips, and intentional movements through evasion of the bag. Grunkemeyer was two-for-two in the drill and placed the ball outside his target, away from the would-be defender.

Blue White Illustrated publisher Sean Fitz caught several of Grunkemeyer’s best throws of the day, including an off-platform dime to the back of the end zone.

More from Grunkemeyer. pic.twitter.com/zRptFgq7uT

— Sean Fitz (@SeanFitzOn3) May 21, 2023

Footwork and ball-placement stand out

Next came specific routes and an evaluation of a player’s footwork at each depth and location. Possibly Grunkemeyer’s best throw of the day came in this drill where the instructor imagined a scenario where the defense is rotating a safety down into the box post-snap, and the quarterback has to layer the ball up the seam into the gap he’s created. While most of the quarterbacks in Grunkemeyer’s group rifled the ball on a line, the Ohio native did an excellent job layering the ball over an imaginary defender and dropping it into the arms of the receiver.

No matter the station, Grunkmeyer was one of the first three quarterbacks through the drill and became the standard for ball placement, footwork, and velocity on passes.

What’s next for Grunkemeyer

When asked what he’s taking away from this camp, it wasn’t a specific piece of coaching that Grunkemeyer stressed; it was leadership. He talked about wanting to be a leader among great players and discussed how he tried to help the other players around him Sunday through the competition.

“Leadership is huge. I’ve really tried to make that a point of getting better as a leader. Making that point with my team, and I can bring it out here as well. There’s a ton of great quarterbacks here today as well,” Grunkemeyer said.

That focus makes sense after his team went 4-7 last season, despite the Penn State pledge throwing 25 touchdowns and earning a completion percentage of 64.2%. Grunkemeyer aims to change those all-important numbers in the win column in his final year before joining the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley full-time. Despite the growing list of accolades and accomplishments on the recruiting circuit, he remains focused on his goal.

“I want to make everyone around me better. That’s one of my big goals for this season, and to win a ton of games. That’s the job of the quarterback.”