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DENNIS GROSEL ISN’T MISCHIEVOUS like the 1950s comic strip character, “Dennis the Menace.”
But, as his mother Laura says, the former Boston College quarterback is a “bull in a china shop.”
“He’ll walk into a room, and a picture will fall off the wall, or something will break,” Grosel’s father, Dennis Sr., mentions.
“He seems to break pretty much anything that he comes around or touches.”
Dennis Sr. joked that you need to hide “the good stuff” whenever Grosel walks into a room. Then, chuckling, he launched into a story about Grosel rushing from a baseball game to his younger brother Tommy’s church confirmation. Instead of showering at home, Grosel decided to wash off at his grandmother’s house to save time.
“He literally comes walking out of the bathroom holding the shower knob in like four pieces,” Dennis Sr. said. “He goes, ‘Grammy, I don't know what happened. It just broke.’ She's like, ‘How could that possibly have happened?’”
Ironically, Grosel has been the glue that keeps things together. Non-material things, that is, like his family—immediate and extended—and his teammates.
Grosel, 24, is the oldest of three children. Despite the inherent competition that comes with an 18-month, brotherly age difference, he constantly encourages Tommy, who he shared the diamond with at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio. And Laura says Grosel is more “overprotective than my husband” when it comes to watching out for his younger sister Nicole.
Grosel is quick-witted but goofy and humble but persistent.
He’s the kind of son who convinced his parents to get a Sheepadoodle named Archie from a five-acre dog-breeding farm in Ohio called Dennis’s Doodles during the pandemic because “it was a sign.” Smack dab in the middle of 27 cousins, he’s the kind of family member who finds time to spend with his relatives, regardless if they’re significantly older or younger than him, or if his schedule is unforgiving.
Recently, he budgeted hours out of a four-day visit home so that he could give his little cousin 1-on-1 quarterback tips.
That’s the kind of person Grosel was at BC, where he went from being a preferred walk-on who bottomed out the depth chart to being a battle-tested backup who started 14 games. He experienced highs, like when he guided the Eagles to an overtime win over Missouri last season, propelling BC to its first 4-0 start since 2007. He also experienced lows, none heavier than his dropped snap at Clemson that cost the Eagles a monumental upset win in Death Valley.
Still, he stayed true to his selfless demeanor, in spite of an emotional roller coaster that both soared to heights and plummeted to depths even he couldn’t have imagined.
“He’s always willing to help,” BC starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec said.
“He puts his pride aside.”
Dennis Grosel celebrates during BC's Senior Day win over Louisville in 2020 after replacing an injured Phil Jurkovec (Photo courtesy of BC Football).
AT FIRST, GROSEL’S FRIENDS had to remind him of his new reality.
“There were still times where I’d be walking downtown, and someone would say, ‘Go Eagles!’ or ‘Good luck this weekend!’,” he said. “And I would be a little shocked.”
“Get with the times,” Grosel remembers his friends saying. After all, he was the starting quarterback for the only Power Five school in Boston.
But it was weird, Grosel said.
“Because that was’t the script that I had for myself, or that many people had for me.”
When Grosel graduated from St. Ignatius in 2016, he had already made a down payment for Butler University, where he hoped to walk on to the baseball team. Then BC came calling with a preferred walk-on spot for its football team. Grosel took it, even though he had never seen the school and despite the fact that he wouldn’t be able to enroll until January 2017.
To this day, Dennis Sr. doesn’t know why that phone call was made. But he’s well aware that it presented an opportunity to Grosel that allowed him to prove something—to himself.
That was a draw, Dennis Sr. confidently said.
Grosel has always been a player that’s ready to do anything his team needs. On the baseball field, he was primarily a catcher, the quarterback of the diamond. That said, he also spent time at third base and first base.
Dennis Sr. quipped that the family had enough gloves to field a team.
As for the gridiron, Grosel lined up at center, tight end, defensive back, quarterback—the list goes on. In eighth grade, he wasn’t even under center. But that didn’t stop him from competing for the quarterback position in high school. By his sophomore season at St. Ignatius, he was already starting varsity games.
When he arrived at BC as a mid-year enrollee ahead of the 2017 season, though, he adopted a long-term plan. A plan that is practically extinct in a college football world that’s been swallowed by the ever-tempting yet risk-adorned transfer portal.
“Some people come in, and they expect to play,” Grosel said. “I had no expectation of playing in my four or five years. I was just happy to be there.”
Grosel was the third-string scout quarterback. He wasn’t even getting scout team reps. Instead of focusing on BC’s game plan, Grosel spent his days learning the playbook inside and out and studying opponents’ offenses.
When he wasn’t given physical reps, he compensated with more mental reps.
Grosel’s goals were simple: bring something to the table, don’t be a distraction and, once he earned the trust of coaches, don’t mess up practice.
Grosel redshirted the 2017 season and held a clipboard for the 2018 campaign. His first two years, whoever entered the quarterback room was automatically pegged above him, Grosel said. It wasn’t until the following offseason that things started to click.
Dennis Grosel's first extended action came at Louisville in 2019 when then-starter Anthony Brown tore his ACL (Photo: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports).
Sticking Around: Grosel Stayed at BC to Be the Glue for Others
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
DENNIS GROSEL ISN’T MISCHIEVOUS like the 1950s comic strip character, “Dennis the Menace.”
But, as his mother Laura says, the former Boston College quarterback is a “bull in a china shop.”
“He’ll walk into a room, and a picture will fall off the wall, or something will break,” Grosel’s father, Dennis Sr., mentions.
“He seems to break pretty much anything that he comes around or touches.”
Dennis Sr. joked that you need to hide “the good stuff” whenever Grosel walks into a room. Then, chuckling, he launched into a story about Grosel rushing from a baseball game to his younger brother Tommy’s church confirmation. Instead of showering at home, Grosel decided to wash off at his grandmother’s house to save time.
“He literally comes walking out of the bathroom holding the shower knob in like four pieces,” Dennis Sr. said. “He goes, ‘Grammy, I don't know what happened. It just broke.’ She's like, ‘How could that possibly have happened?’”
Ironically, Grosel has been the glue that keeps things together. Non-material things, that is, like his family—immediate and extended—and his teammates.
Grosel, 24, is the oldest of three children. Despite the inherent competition that comes with an 18-month, brotherly age difference, he constantly encourages Tommy, who he shared the diamond with at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio. And Laura says Grosel is more “overprotective than my husband” when it comes to watching out for his younger sister Nicole.
Grosel is quick-witted but goofy and humble but persistent.
He’s the kind of son who convinced his parents to get a Sheepadoodle named Archie from a five-acre dog-breeding farm in Ohio called Dennis’s Doodles during the pandemic because “it was a sign.” Smack dab in the middle of 27 cousins, he’s the kind of family member who finds time to spend with his relatives, regardless if they’re significantly older or younger than him, or if his schedule is unforgiving.
Recently, he budgeted hours out of a four-day visit home so that he could give his little cousin 1-on-1 quarterback tips.
That’s the kind of person Grosel was at BC, where he went from being a preferred walk-on who bottomed out the depth chart to being a battle-tested backup who started 14 games. He experienced highs, like when he guided the Eagles to an overtime win over Missouri last season, propelling BC to its first 4-0 start since 2007. He also experienced lows, none heavier than his dropped snap at Clemson that cost the Eagles a monumental upset win in Death Valley.
Still, he stayed true to his selfless demeanor, in spite of an emotional roller coaster that both soared to heights and plummeted to depths even he couldn’t have imagined.
“He’s always willing to help,” BC starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec said.
“He puts his pride aside.”
Dennis Grosel celebrates during BC's Senior Day win over Louisville in 2020 after replacing an injured Phil Jurkovec (Photo courtesy of BC Football).
AT FIRST, GROSEL’S FRIENDS had to remind him of his new reality.
“There were still times where I’d be walking downtown, and someone would say, ‘Go Eagles!’ or ‘Good luck this weekend!’,” he said. “And I would be a little shocked.”
“Get with the times,” Grosel remembers his friends saying. After all, he was the starting quarterback for the only Power Five school in Boston.
But it was weird, Grosel said.
“Because that was’t the script that I had for myself, or that many people had for me.”
When Grosel graduated from St. Ignatius in 2016, he had already made a down payment for Butler University, where he hoped to walk on to the baseball team. Then BC came calling with a preferred walk-on spot for its football team. Grosel took it, even though he had never seen the school and despite the fact that he wouldn’t be able to enroll until January 2017.
To this day, Dennis Sr. doesn’t know why that phone call was made. But he’s well aware that it presented an opportunity to Grosel that allowed him to prove something—to himself.
That was a draw, Dennis Sr. confidently said.
Grosel has always been a player that’s ready to do anything his team needs. On the baseball field, he was primarily a catcher, the quarterback of the diamond. That said, he also spent time at third base and first base.
Dennis Sr. quipped that the family had enough gloves to field a team.
As for the gridiron, Grosel lined up at center, tight end, defensive back, quarterback—the list goes on. In eighth grade, he wasn’t even under center. But that didn’t stop him from competing for the quarterback position in high school. By his sophomore season at St. Ignatius, he was already starting varsity games.
When he arrived at BC as a mid-year enrollee ahead of the 2017 season, though, he adopted a long-term plan. A plan that is practically extinct in a college football world that’s been swallowed by the ever-tempting yet risk-adorned transfer portal.
“Some people come in, and they expect to play,” Grosel said. “I had no expectation of playing in my four or five years. I was just happy to be there.”
Grosel was the third-string scout quarterback. He wasn’t even getting scout team reps. Instead of focusing on BC’s game plan, Grosel spent his days learning the playbook inside and out and studying opponents’ offenses.
When he wasn’t given physical reps, he compensated with more mental reps.
Grosel’s goals were simple: bring something to the table, don’t be a distraction and, once he earned the trust of coaches, don’t mess up practice.
Grosel redshirted the 2017 season and held a clipboard for the 2018 campaign. His first two years, whoever entered the quarterback room was automatically pegged above him, Grosel said. It wasn’t until the following offseason that things started to click.
Dennis Grosel's first extended action came at Louisville in 2019 when then-starter Anthony Brown tore his ACL (Photo: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports).
