Williamsville grad Greuning molds Bullets’ special teams

Nov. 10--WILLIAMSVILLE -- Chase Gruening has come full circle in his football life. He's back at his alma mater, Williamsville High School, after spending several years as coaching at the college level.

But Gruening wouldn't mind circling back to one of those colleges, Northern Illinois University, on Thanksgiving weekend. That is, as long as he can bring the rest of the Bullets with him -- especially a talented special teams group that he's taught how to wreak havoc this season.

"It's tough practicing for him because he wants everything perfect," senior return man Daetayvian Woodson said of Gruening, who's in his second year as Williamsville's special teams coach.

"He knows (special teams) can make a big difference in a game. If he wants us to do something perfect, he'll say, 'One more time.' But it can turn into 10 more times. We won't stop until it's perfect."

When the Bullets host Byron at 2 p.m. Saturday in a Class 3A quarterfinal battle of unbeatens, Williamsville will look for something to exploit on a kickoff or punt situation.

"We feel like we have an advantage against a lot of teams," Woodson said. "We have athletes on every special team. There's something we can do better against another team at a certain point in the game."

The Bullets already have scored six special-teams touchdowns this year: three on blocked punts returned for scores, one on a punt return, one on a kick return and one when the Bullets' Jeremiah Jackson stripped an opposing return man of the ball and returned it for a score.

Six more points have come on three trick plays where Williamsville lined up to kick an extra point but ran a fake and scored two.

"We have guys who don't get to see the field much on offense or defense, although they probably would with some other teams," Gruening said of some of his special-teams players, many of whom are among the team's 27 seniors.

"I have guys who are really good football players on special teams. I'm lucky to have those players to work with."

Gruening was not a havoc-wreaking special teams player for the Bullets just over a decade ago. He was a 5-foot-10, 240-pound all-state nose tackle as a Williamsville senior in 2006. The Bullets gave Kunz his first career playoff victory that year.

After playing at Millikin University, Gruening spent five years as an assistant coach at four different colleges: Millikin, Wisconsin-Stout, Southwest Minnesota State and Northern Illinois.

He was at NIU in 2014, then came back to Millikin in 2015 before going into the insurance business back home in Sherman.

"It's ironic the state (championship) games are at NIU this year," Gruening said. "I learned everyting I know about special teams from my mentor up there, Craig Harmon, who's still on the staff at Northern.

"Then I went back to Millikin, but then I decided the (college coaching) lifestyle wasn't for me. (Aaron) Kunz said, 'Hey, you need to come here.'"

Gruening stepped in as special teams coach after Trevor Compardo left Williamsville to become head coach at New Berlin. Kunz said Compardo had set the tone for special teams being a priority at WHS, and Gruening has continued that philosophy.

"Chase has a great plan every day," Kunz said of the 28-year-old Gruening, who's now a slimmed-down 210 pounds. "The kids are always ready to go for special teams.

"Each week, he watches film for new things we can do. We don't do the same thing each week."

Seniors Jeremiah Jackson and Keegan McGann are on all of the Bullets' special teams. They said Gruening's age allows him to connect with his players more, although there's a time for joking around and a time to work.

"Intensity-wise, he's awesome," Jackson said. "He's laid back, but he'll get intense.

"He doesn't like it when we walk. He'll say, 'You guys want to walk? You can walk over to Athens when we play them, or walk over to Riverton.' But we love it."

Said McGann: "He brings that energy to practice every day. He's young, like us. But if it's not perfect, we're not getting off the field. If you mess up special teams, it can impact the whole game."

Senior Joe Mitchell spends most of his time at wide receiver, but he's also the Bullets' kicker. He said playoff pressure adds to the importance of special teams, and he's tried to respond.

Both of Mitchell's field goals this season have come in the playoffs, and he also launched a successful onside kick recovered by teammate Grant Daykin the first round against Spring Valley Hall.

"We'll kick it all over the field," Mitchell said. "We'll pooch kick, squib or kick it deep.

"We'll go into a game and (Gruening) will say, 'Special teams will win us this game.' Field position is a big part of it."

Gruening hopes his special teams can keep giving the Bullets an edge the rest of the postseason. Deep playoff runs were only a dream when he was a player.

"It's a different animal now," said Gruening, the lone Williamsville graduate on the coaching staff. "I started to see it when I was following them when I was coaching in college. They kept going deeper in the playoffs, then they made their state run (second place in 2014).

"It's exciting to be part of the expectations they have here now. But hey, we have to live up to them."

-- Contact Dave Kane: 788-1544, [email protected], twitter.com/davekaneSJR

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