Andy Groom is perhaps the most successful player from the 2002 Ohio State National Champions that no one ever seems to talk about. That’s probably because he is a punter.
Regardless of the position he played, Groom was a 2002 first-team All-American, finishing a remarkable career that began as a walk-on under John Cooper and ended with an upset victory over the Miami Hurricanes to capture an improbable national title. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Bishop Hartley product was a multi-sport star in high school, winning a state title as part of a track relay team.
Groom was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection (2000-02) and finished his collegiate career by representing Ohio State in the 2003 East-West Shrine Bowl. He left Columbus as Ohio State’s all-time leader in career punt average (45.0) and holds the school record for longest punt in a bowl game, booming a 67-yarder in the 2002 Outback Bowl against South Carolina.
He stands No. 6 in OSU history in punt yards in a season (2,697) and tied for No. 10 in punt attempts in a season (60), setting both marks in the championship year of 2002.
Still an avid Buckeye fan, Groom attends home games and even went to the Sugar Bowl in January to watch Ohio State beat Alabama, where he was treated to quite a performance by two of the nation’s best punters.
“Cameron Johnston’s going to do good things, but that J.K. Scott…that was the best punting performance I’ve ever seen any college kid or NFL guy have in a game,” Groom said. “It was unbelievable. That dude’s going to make a lot of money.”
Groom grew up in Columbus, the third of four children — an older brother and sister and a younger brother. His father ran the K&M Market in Obetz, where Andy would work during summer vacation from an early age, getting up at 5 a.m. and stocking shelves, sweeping the floor or carrying groceries out to people’s cars.
Andy and family. Photo courtesy of Andy Groom.
Andy has returned to Columbus, after his playing career, where he works as an account manager at Stryker, selling medical equipment to hospitals throughout Ohio. He and his wife of 10 years, Janna, have three daughters – Ella (5), Claire (3) and Julia (5 months).
He was kind enough to talk with us recently about his life, Ohio State career, and post-Buckeye happenings.
What was your earliest memory of playing football?
Andy Groom: I remember myself and my little brother – me probably being around nine years old and my brother at six – and we went out with a hammer and a couple nails and some old wood, and we made a field goal post out of pretty much rotting wood. I still remember we had a Coors NFL football. It was silver, just like a silver bullet, and that’s what my little brother would hold for me, and I would kick it through the uprights.
When did you start playing organized football?
AG: My mother would not let me start until I was in sixth grade. My sister was a very good volleyball player. She went to Wehrle High School and they made it to state and (my mother) said it was her time to shine and football would come. It was pretty much her trying to shield me away from football until she thought I was old enough. I grew up playing soccer my whole life and I was the first one to play football. I think she was a little bit scared of it, so she put an age limit on me. I have three girls, but if I had a boy I would do the same exact thing.
How did you become a punter?
AG: In sixth grade I was starting quarterback – I never really came off the field. I played linebacker and did all the kicking. I was athletic, so whatever they needed I pretty much did. High school came around, I again played quarterback and DB. Those are my first loves in football. But again, they needed a kicker and punter so I started doing that on the side. Going into my junior year of high school I started to go to college camps and started to see that I was better than 99% of the people out there at kicking the ball, yet at quarterback and DB I was only better than maybe 70%. Really, I did it because my team needed it.
What was your recruiting process like?
AG: I went on a visit at Notre Dame and Ohio U — those were my two main visits. I had a scholarship offer from Ohio U. It’s very weird. I showed a lot of interest to Ohio State. I was getting letters and talked to coach (Bill) Conley a lot. I guess I told Ohio U that that was happening. I don’t really remember that, but they pretty much said, “We didn’t think we could get you. You showed a lot of interest in Ohio State. We gave your scholarship to a guy by the name of Arden Banks.” They were recruiting me as a free safety / athlete / option quarterback. It was devastating to me because I thought that was my fall back. That was the only scholarship I thought I had out there. When they gave it to him, I decided to walk on at Ohio State, which I’m very grateful that it all worked out.
You weren’t the first in your family to wear the Scarlet & Gray.
AG: My uncle Jeff was a walk-on there. He was actually starting to get some recognition there and doing some really good things at the defensive back position. But the Lantern came up to him after one practice and he was a walk-on and they started asking him some questions like, “Do you think you’ll ever see the field as a walk-on? We’re hearing good things about you.” He spouted off at the mouth – I believe this is true – that “as long as Woody’s here, I will never see the field.” It’s something to the words of that. I think Woody heard that and got him off the team. He was known to be very athletic, very fast and a good DB.
What was it like to walk on?
AG: I was what you call a preferred walk-on. They invited me. So I was on the team – without a scholarship but I was part of the team. You had to perform to stay on the team. But I was one of like six kickers and punters they invited that year, which was crazy. It was very weird how they treated it. I still remember during picture day in the Shoe, we weren’t even allowed taking a picture with the team – which that’s changed now. We didn’t have our names on the back of our jersey. It was a very embarrassing moment. I had a lot of family there and to not be part of that team picture and not have my name on my jersey, I was very embarrassed.
While you were at Ohio State, John Cooper was fired. Did anyone know this Jim Tressel guy? What did the players think of this hiring?
AG: There were a lot of people saying, “What’s Andy Geiger doing? This is Ohio State. We’re bringing in some guy from a Division I-AA school.” Nobody really knew how to take it. My dad, of all people, was constantly saying, “This is a great thing for you, Andy. He comes from a smaller school. They play the best (players) at the smaller schools.” I sort of blew it off. My teammates really didn’t know what to expect.”
Do you remember your first meeting with Tressel and what you were thinking at the time?
AG: I thought it was a new beginning for me. I thought I had done some good things to try to win a position, but with the prior coaching staff I was never going to see the field. I saw him at winter conditioning. Never met him before in my life. I still remember sitting there stretching and he comes up to me and says, “Mr. Groom, Coach Tressel. Very good to meet you, I’ve heard great things about you.” I couldn’t believe the guy knew who I was. Coming in as a punter, let alone a walk-on punter, you’re at the bottom of the totem pole. To see him come in and know everybody on the team, I was really impressed with it. I had my meetings with him and he even said, “I don’t care if you started or sat the bench last year, I’m going to play the best players.” And he did.
How did life under Tressel differ from the Cooper years?
AG: Coach Tressel is much different from Coach Cooper. Coach Cooper usually let his coaches do the coaching and Coach Tressel wants to be in every aspect of the game. I wouldn’t call it micromanaging, but he wants to be able to be a part of every part of the game, whether it’s weightlifting, running, special teams, defense, offense. He wasn’t a defensive coach by any means, but he wanted to know what was going on in there.
Do you remember the first time you ran out into the Horseshoe before a game?
AG: “I remember everything about it. Before they renovated it, they had the main locker room, a coaches’ locker room and then they had a walk-on locker room. Not a whole lot of people know that. We were like our own little team. We weren’t really in with the main team until they had team prayer and team talk. But once everybody got together, we ran out that tunnel and onto the field. I’m getting goosebumps thinking of it now. I never probably will feel that way the rest of my life. You’ve got a hundred thousand people looking at you and cheering. It doesn’t matter what’s on the back of your jersey, they love the Buckeyes.
What do you remember about your first game?
AG: The first time I went out and actually got some real time, I traveled as the team’s holder my redshirt freshman year. We were at Iowa and in the second quarter we ran a fake field goal. I’m supposed to roll out and then throw a corner pass to (placekicker) Dan Stultz. I rolled out and it was pretty open, and I was afraid Dan didn’t have the best hands in the world, so I just rolled out and I was a yard and a half away from getting a touchdown. In the same game, the fourth quarter rolled around and they had me go for a punt. Game’s out of reach. I get it snapped back. I’m pretty quick with it. They just come bull rushing and they block it. Ball’s rolling backwards. I’m on a full sprint. I am running as fast as I possibly can. I scoop it up on the full run and outrun everybody and get it to the original line of scrimmage and I was off by three or four yards from getting a first down. I remember that game very well and I woke up with a huge bruise on my back from getting blasted on one of those plays – I don’t remember which it was.
What was it like getting put on scholarship?
AG: I think it was a week before my junior year of 2001. I was just getting ready for another practice. Coach Tressel calls me in his room. He says, “You’ve done a great job for us and we’re looking forward to the future. We want to thank you for the time you’ve put in and we’ve got a full ride scholarship for you if you’ll accept.” I could not believe it. If you had asked me if I’d ever get a full ride in 1998 the way things were going, I would have laughed at you. Being able to call my parents and tell them that had just happened…I was more ecstatic for them than myself. It was a pretty special time in my life.
What moment stands out most from your playing career at Ohio State?
AG: There’s two – I’ll do a selfish one and an obvious one. My obvious one was being on the podium with all my teammates in the National Championship. Everybody was talking about Miami being one of the best teams ever. It was pretty special to be part of a team that was able to overcome a team like that.
If I want to take a selfish tone, the Penn State game my senior year. I had to punt twice inside of five minutes out of our end zone. I’m running out and there’s like three and a half minutes left. Coach Tressel takes my arm and says, “Groomy, show me why the punt’s the most important play in football. Show me why I gave you a scholarship.” So I go out there and I bomb a 60-yarder…it’s like a 55-yard net. We stop them, they punt it back. So we’ve got like 45 seconds to a minute and a half, when I have to punt again. We’re on our five. He pulls me back and says, “Groomy, show me again.” I go out there and bomb a 55-yarder, I think it’s a 50-yard net. We end up winning the game. I’m inside the player’s locker room and I’ve got a hundred guys chanting my name, with the coaches. Selfishly, that’s one of the prize moments of my life. I worked very hard to get the respect of the team and the coaches, but to be able to see it come to fruition…it was very, very special.
Coach Tressel takes my arm and says, “Groomy, show me why the punt’s the most important play in football. Show me why I gave you a scholarship.” So I go out there and I bomb a 60-yarder.
What was it like to play that Miami team in the title game?
AG: They had a very athletic team, obviously. Over half their team, I felt like, went pro. I had Warren Sapp behind me, just nonstop talking to us. It was a crazy atmosphere. Those guys can talk, now. When we thought we lost, they’re out on the field just talking away and dancing on the 50. And we’re sitting there, like, “Oh my God, we just lost the game.” And then obviously that wasn’t the case. Those guys from Florida can talk.
Who took charge and made sure nobody took a play off or ever gave up?
AG: Pretty much everybody. It’s so weird because we had a special bond throughout the whole season. People that didn’t even see the field a whole lot, like Maurice Lee. He was a wide receiver who was like the heart of our locker room. I don’t really think he played much that year or any year. He was a full-ride scholarship guy, just a short wide receiver. He’s the one who would get everybody geeked. (Strength Coach) Al Johnson I remember being on the sidelines and constantly getting us jacked up. Bernardo Amerson, his sidekick. When I think of that question, those three pop up more than anyone.
What was it like as a fifth-year senior playing with freshman Maurice Clarett for that season?
AG: I saw the good sides of Maurice and I saw the sides that I didn’t really care for. We would have never won the national championship without him and he is a completely changed man for the good. I saw him roughly two months ago taking his daughter to a movie and I was taking my daughters to a movie. He was just a young, cocky individual where everybody was telling him how good he was – which, he was very good. But he had a lot of growing to do. He’s there now, but I wish he would have stayed the course, because he could really have been something special at the next level. I’ve never seen anybody play as ‘mean’ as he did for that one year. He was playing with a lot of pain. Pretty much every game he would feel that stinger in his shoulder.
You obviously tried to make a go of it in the NFL. What happened and why do you think it didn’t work out?
AG: It was a horrible year to come out if you wanted to try to get drafted as a punter. Usually you go to the NFL combine there’ll be two to four punters invited. I went that year and I forget the number but it was either 13 or 15. So it was a loaded class. In the NFL combine you get two sets of five balls – that’s all you get. I hit my first two balls and just rocketed them and then didn’t have a good punt after that. Had a horrid, horrid NFL combine.
Groom had NFL ability but got caught in the numbers game.
When you go undrafted you have many hours and days talking to your agent ranking teams. It’s whatever your best chances of making the team are. It was Tampa Bay and the Redskins. Washington had a guy that was last in the league and Tampa had (former Buckeye) Tom Tupa. They just won the championship. I’m all set to go to Washington and Jon Gruden gets on the phone and talks me up to where he needs me on the team, they can’t win without me, Tom Tupa just had surgery and he’s not going to play. So I very stupidly picked Tampa Bay and Tom Tupa’s their guy. I wasn’t ready. I won’t lie. Tom Tupa beat me out handily. I never really got a chance in the games but he was a better punter than me. And Tom Tupa’s a phenomenal guy. I learned a lot from him. So I got cut and had workouts throughout the season.
What happened after the tryout with Tampa Bay?
AG: At Washington, I went against Tom Tupa again. I’m having the best preseason in my life. Getting ready to go against Pittsburgh in the preseason and he blows his back out, never to play again. They’ve got to carry him off. I got the whole game. I think I averaged 47 yards a punt. The last game of the preseason at Baltimore, they sign a guy to go against me and gave him the whole first half. They didn’t want a rookie punting.
There’s two people in life that I don’t particularly care for and that special teams coach, Danny Smith, is one of them. He had no respect for a rookie, and didn’t want me in there. Brought a guy in off the street and gave him the first half even though I worked my butt off for seven months. I ended up taking the second half, beat him out handily, so they have to give it to me because the papers got a hold of it. I had three full weeks with him and it was just never enough for him. The first game was against Chicago and at the end of the game, the fourth quarter, about two minutes left, sitting on the 40, he tells me to kick it through the end zone. I’m like, “What do you mean, kick it through the end zone? Let me hang it up and kick to the five.” “Kick it through the end zone.” So he was sort of building something against me to where when they cut me, he used that punt that I kicked through the end zone as one of the reasons I got cut.
After that you had a shot with St. Louis, but the coach had a history with punter Matt Turk, which helped him win the job. Was that the turning point?
AG: I had a contract offer from the New York Giants and the Stryker Corporation, who I’m with now, and I chose Stryker. Jerry Rudzinski, he was a captain linebacker at Ohio State, I had a year with him. He was with Stryker for roughly four or five years. A job opened up that hadn’t opened up in six years. It’s a really good territory. I was sort of seeing what was out there outside of football because I was sort of getting fed up. It was just a perfect storm where that opened up, and I knew Jerry. I got in contact with him. He put me through the interview process and told me I had to go earn it. I ended up being the guy and eight and a half years later, I’m still there. It’s a great company and I’m really thankful for it. I sell straight to hospitals around Ohio.
Do you make it back to Ohio State very often?
AG: I go to every game. A few of my prior teammates put on a real nice tailgate right outside of the northwest (side of the) stadium. We’ve been doing that for eight or nine years. A lot of people come back for that. That’s where we had our 10-year reunion for the national championship. I don’t go back (to the Woody Hayes Center) that much. Coach Meyer called me into his office a couple years ago to try to turn Drew Basil into a punter, before they got (Cameron Johnston). I worked with Drew for three or four months and (doing both) was just a little bit more than he could handle. It’s very hard to do both in college. They wanted to see if they could get away with it and it just didn’t work out so they ended up getting the Aussie.
What do you make of the influx of Australian punters in the U.S.?
AG: I saw it a little bit when I first started the NFL thing. Minnesota’s punter Darren Bennett was an Aussie guy who was there forever and would do the end-over-end. Matt McBriar was a big Aussie guy. They have success over there and I’ve been around a bunch of them. They learn how to kick a football completely different than we do in the States and it just turns into something special in punting. The end over end has transformed punting in the college and NFL games. That wasn’t around really, when I was there. To pooch a punt you would put the nose up a little bit and kick way up through it and try to kick a high ball. Sometimes you ‘flush’ it and sometimes you mishit it. If you mishit it, it’s going to the 25. If you flush it, it’s going through the end zone. But with this Aussie kick, if you want to put it on the 8, your mishit is either going to be on the 11 or the 4. If I could have had that through college, it would have been pretty powerful.
So, what did you make of Ohio State’s championship last season? What did that mean to you as an alum and former player?
AG: It’s funny. If you would have asked me that when we played LSU and Florida – we wanted them to win, don’t get me wrong. But it was hard to give up something we worked so hard at and then we’d be thrown to the side, like, “Aw that’s just another championship team and now they’ve got the new guys that won a national championship.” But you sort of grow out of that and I couldn’t be more proud to be part of the Ohio State brotherhood. If you asked me that eight years ago, I’d be happy but I’d also be a little salty saying, “Man, we’re nobodies now.” But nobody will ever take away what we did in 2002. We won games that people never thought we would and beat one of the best BCS teams ever in college football. So when they won that against Oregon, I couldn’t be more proud.
