In Grosel They Trust

Dennis Grosel couldn't take any time to process what he just saw. Boston College was in the middle of a highly-emotional game against Louisville, and Anthony Brown had just executed a 53-yard rainbow pass to wide receiver Zay Flowers. Two plays later, he ran a quarterback draw for 14 yards. It put the offense, which started on its own 11-yard line, on the verge of a game-tying touchdown.

Except Brown was still on the turf. His hands clasped his lower leg, and the training staff was on its way out to the field. It flooded the BC sideline with a range of emotions, but Grosel couldn't take any time to process anything.

"You have to get up and get going," he said of the moment. "When you see him go down, you see trainers on the field. You have to get your arm loose and take some snaps to make sure the exchange is all good (with the center). It was almost better not thinking about it. To an extent, the adrenaline just flows."

It instantaneously thrust a redshirt-sophomore into the college football spotlight. Grosel finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass, the first of three he eventually threw in a 41-39 defeat to Louisville. Now two weeks later, he enters his first week atop BC's depth chart, the incumbent starter before Saturday's game against NC State.

"We're rocking and rolling," head coach Steve Addazio said. "(Grosel was) in full, live color the second half of the game. I thought he played really well, (with) great leadership skills. He threw the ball well, (but) we had a few drops on him. He ran the ball well, made good decisions."

Grosel's final statistics don't accurately tell the story of his game play. He finished 9-of-24 for 111 yards, but he completed nearly half of his first seven completions for touchdowns. He added 47 yards rushing on six carries and displayed immediate chemistry with his tight ends and wide receivers.

"I had no worries (after Brown went down)," wide receiver Kobay White said of the quarterback change. "Dennis and I are always outside throwing with Zay (Flowers) before we leave for hotels (during game weeks). We were using him a lot for our own personal training, so I don't think anyone had a crazy time adjusting. We were all just ready to go and get him ready and going. We wanted to get him comfortable playing with us."

It's arguably the most uncomfortable and awkward moment for a backup quarterback. Extended, in-game playing time is a beautiful opportunity, especially at a position where only one player is on the field at a time, but it comes at someone else's price. The obvious excitement of running onto the field is tempered by concern for a teammate. It straddles an incredibly fine line and requires a unique brand of leadership, especially in the heat of a game.

"With our team, you get respect by how hard you work and the effort you put in," White added. "It doesn't really matter if you're a walk-on or on scholarship. You're going to get respect if you work hard. I think Dennis has that characteristic that everyone can see, even though he wasn't a starter. That's going to have the biggest impact because there was no negative reaction to the next guy coming in."

It was the first public glimpse into a long-overlooked player known for consistently excelling on the gridiron. He was an All-Ohio first team honoree in 2015 after amassing over 2,500 yards and 29 touchdowns as a dual-threat quarterback, and he enrolled at Boston College in time for spring practice before his freshman season. But he did so as a preferred walk-on athlete without a scholarship.

Grosel toiled in the background for the next two seasons, redshirting in 2017 and acting as a depth quarterback last year. He was the fourth-string quarterback and played most of his snaps during spring ball and preseason camp with depth players. He didn't see the field, but he became a student of the game.

It enabled him to compete for the No. 2 slot on the depth chart as part of a roster shuffle in the offseason. Brown remained the undisputed top player, but Grosel entered training camp in a position battle against Matt Valecce. Working even more closely enabled him to sponge the data from the starter, and the team broke camp with Grosel holding the slight upper hand on the depth chart.

"He really won us over this spring," Kobay White said. "We saw that he had the ability to lead in the spring with the (second team) offense and drive it. He would be going against the first team defense, and you could tell he had a little bit of ability. Then came camp (in the fall), and he stepped up like (Brown) as a leader. He learned a lot from (Brown) and took his role as the backup to keep working to get better."

"The biggest thing with Anthony is that went into a starting role as an inexperienced player," Grosel said. "On a lot of those reps, he could tell me what I was seeing and feeling. How he handled it could help me see what I could see and get better. That connection, as an inexperienced guy who became an experienced guy, helped speed up the process."

It was a humbling process for Grosel, who now enters this week as the team's unexpected starter. There's a certain appreciation in the moment for a player already earning trust but understanding how he obtained it. The rest of the season is a blank slate, but there's an expectation to continue the success started under Brown.

"I was a preferred walk-on and came into a deep room with Anthony as the top guy," Grosel said. "I slowly worked with great coaches and players to improve my skill and craft. (Brown) went down, and I was in the situation to step up and perform. Going from as low as I was on the depth chart, in that situation, to this position is eye-opening."

Boston College and NC State will kick off on Saturday at noon from Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill. The game can be seen on the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage. For local Boston viewers, that means the game will be televised on NESN. The game can be heard via radio broadcast on the BC Learfield IMG Sports Network, locally in Boston on WEEI 93.7 FM. The game can also be streamed on satellite radio via Sirius channel 133, XM channel 194 and Internet channel 956, or via mobile devices on the Tune-In app.

Players Mentioned

Anthony Brown

Zay Flowers

Dennis Grosel

Matt Valecce

Kobay White

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