Prep football: Palmer senior picks Western Oregon

March 20, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - Following his senior season of football, Tanner Grover found himself with a lot of options.

The all-state wide receiver and defensive back has the ability to play on either side of the ball, and there were a number of college football programs courting the Palmer High senior.

Before making his final choice, Grover considered them all.

&#8220I wanted to have as many options as I could on the table,” Grover said. &#8220I didn't eliminate any (schools) until I knew where I was going.”

But finally Grover just had to go with his gut instinct, and that is leading him to Western Oregon University.

Grover has signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Wolves football program next fall.

At WOU, Grover has the option to redshirt and could have five more years of football in front of him. Grover said he likes the idea of redshirting, if nothing else to give him one more year to improve. But if the WOU coaching staff sees him as a player who will see regular time immediately, so be it.

Grover had his choice of a list of schools from various levels of college football.

Among those interested in Grover were Division I Eastern Washington University, Division II programs such as Bemidji State (Minn.) and Chadron State (Neb.), Division III Williamette (Ore.) and NAIA schools such as Southern Oregon, Lindenwood (Mo.) and Valley City State (ND).

But ultimately, Grover believes Division II Western Oregon feels most like home.

&#8220I saw what is going for them, and it felt right,” Grover said. &#8220And the level of play, I know I can play there. And play there a lot.”

At least to start, Grover will play on the defensive side of the ball, he said, at free safety.

There, Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen believes Grover will be able to utilize one of his greatest abilities.

&#8220Open-field tackling,” Christiansen said.

But Christiansen also believes Grover has the ability to contribute on the offensive side.

&#8220He catches the ball very well,” Christiansen said. &#8220He's explosive, and can change gears

on ya.”

Grover said different coaches who recruited him had different ideas about where he would best be suited.

&#8220I don't have a preference,” Grover said. &#8220I just want to be the most valuable to a team as I can.”

If he does get the shot to play on both sides of the ball, Grover said he believes it will be easier to start on defense and then go to offense, rather than starting on offense and moving to defense.

Grover played at Palmer for two seasons after moving with his family from northern Washington.

With the Moose, Grover made an immediate impact on the varsity squad, contributing on offense, defense and special teams.

&#8220It's hard to keep him off the field,” Christiansen said.

Special teams could be an area Grover makes an immediate impact at the college level.

&#8220Coverage on kickoffs is a real specialty of his,” Christiansen said.

As a senior, Grover earned All-Railbelt Conference honors at both wide receiver and defensive back. He was first-team all-state on offense and second-team all-state on defense.

Grover also had the chance to share the football field with his twin brother Landon, who Tanner said is working toward an opportunity to attend the Air Force Academy.

Tanner Grover has been playing football since the fifth grade, but said he never really expected to be able to play at the college level until moving to Alaska. While going to school in Washington, his future plans involved the ROTC. But after seeing several of his teammates at PHS earn the opportunity to play at the college level, he thought he could do the same.

&#8220Over the winter, I grew bigger and stronger, more into what a college athlete should be,” Grover said. &#8220I pretty much knew I could play somewhere, just a matter of where.”

Grover is not the only Palmer athlete to find a home at Western Washington. Former Palmer basketball standout Stanley Ratcliff recently completed his third season with the WOU men's basketball program.

There are also two other Alaska products on the WOU football roster.

Former Dimond wide receiver Justin Ore and former South Anchorage linebacker Mike Petrovich are both redshirt freshmen with the

Wolves.

A handful of Palmer products have found success at the college level in recent years.

Among the former Moose football standouts still playing in college are Western Washington sophomore defensive linemen Junior Aumavae and Joe Samuels, WWU freshman defensive lineman Tory Johnson, Valley City State junior defensive back Mike Weber, Williamette freshman running back Devon Conroy and City College of San Francisco linebacker Jake

Heun.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com