Cory's News Article... (Note: This is an article from a while back a go!)
'Gentle' giant headed to next level
Gratzer taking brains, brawn to Butler
BEDFORD — At 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds with brain power to match the brawn, Cory Gratzer could be described as a gentleman giant.
Now Gratzer, who graduated from Bedford North Lawrence in May after starting three years on the football field, is taking that strength and intelligence to the next level.
The defensive end/tight end has become the eighth player off the 2007 football team to sign with a college team after he committed to play for Butler University in Indianapolis.
"Cory can play either side of the football, but right now Butler is looking at him more on the defensive side," said BNL head coach Bret Szabo. "He started since his sophomore year for us, and the way we play our defensive ends we require them to slide down and pinch in a lot, and he did a great job with that scheme.
"He has a very big upside and what you have to look at with Cory is what a great job he did for me on the football field for three years, but also what a gentleman he is and what a great job he's done academically. That will get you in to places like Butler. He's a great kid."
Gratzer ranked 27th academically in a senior class of nearly 350 and that, along with his 13 career sacks on the gridiron, helped open up the opportunity at Butler. He chose the Bulldogs over Rose-Hulman Institute.
"I've been dreaming of playing at the second level throughout my high school career, and really ever since I started playing," said Gratzer, who had over 40 tackles, 4.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries his senior season. "So it's really realizing a lifelong dream, especially to get to play at Butler. I love it up there.
"It seems like a real good environment. The stadium is awesome, the coaches were great, and I've made friends already with a lot of the new recruits over the Internet and they seem like very good people and players.
"I could've gone to Rose and it was hard to turn down, but I just felt comfortable at Butler. I felt at home from the minute I stepped on campus."
Gratzer will join former BNL star Ryan Hitchcock, who was a teammate on the 2006 HHC championship squad, and former Mitchell star Derek Day, who is now a senior defensive end.
"That's nice that Ryan is already up there," Gratzer said. "We played on some great teams here, and I'm sure he'll show me the ropes. I never got to talk with Derek or anything, but he'll probably be a big mentor to me because I'm going to be going for defensive end and he's already been there for three years."
As an NCAA Division I-AA football school, Butler doesn't offer athletic deals, but academic scholarship money is readily available for top student/athletes, and Gratzer is putting it to very good use.
"They're in a non-scholarship conference or something like that, so they don't give athletic scholarships, but I actually got a pretty impressive academic deal," he said. "I'm going into an engineering dual-deal between Butler and IUPUI. I'll have to go to school for five years, but I'll get two degrees out of it.
"I'm going to have a degree in Economics from Butler, and a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue through IUPUI."
Gratzer is every bit as motivated to get on the field as he is to enter Butler's halls of learning.
"I can't wait to get up there and start the season," he said. "I've got to get quicker. At my height and with how big their offensive linemen are going to be, speed is going to be everything for me.
"Strength will also be a big key to help me get those big gorillas off of me. But I already have my workout from Butler and have started that, and I'm just really looking forward to getting up there and getting started."
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JEFFERSONVILLE — Cory Gratzer takes down a Jeffersonville running back. (Times-Mail / GARET COBB).
