Birmingham Groves OL Avery Gach has elite size and tools, but his work ethic defines him

It was late August 2021, and Birmingham Groves began the season by getting pummeled by Dexter, 40-8.

“I was at that game,” said Avery Gach. “I was just thinking to myself: ‘Man, I could really help our team right now.’ “

A lot of people could have helped Groves that night, but Gach was only a freshman and freshmen just don’t make the Groves junior varsity — much less the varsity — especially as an offensive tackle.

“We try to keep those freshman guys together,” Groves coach Brendan Flaherty said. “I never bring a freshman up to JV. I’d just rather have them be together and let the freshmen kick some butt.”

But Gach was different; that was apparent from the time he first put on pads at Groves.

His tenure with the freshman team lasted all of one game.

“I kept working hard in practice,” he said. “I kept grinding and coach moved me up. I was excited.”

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By Week 2 of his freshman year, Gach was on the varsity team.

“He was just that good,” Flaherty said. “We saw it early at camp. He was just better than everybody else and that was kind of a down year for us. But he just manhandled people. He’s pretty good.”

College coaches across the country agree with Flaherty’s assessment as Gach's Groves team opens play in the Division 2 state playoffs 7 p.m. Friday at Birmingham Seaholm.

At 6 feet 5 and 280 pounds, Gach has emerged as one of the top offensive line prospects in the country. Already, he is the top offensive lineman in the state this season, regardless of class.

Even though he is only a junior, Gach has 34 scholarship offers. Before USC dropped out of the top 10 in the polls, last week, eight of the top-10s had offered him a scholarship. Schools such as Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Penn State are all genuinely interested in the youngster.

Before moving Gach to the varsity, Flaherty checked with his father, Dave, to make sure he had no reservations about his 14-year-old son playing against 17- and 18-year-old seniors.

“As long as he’s going to play,” Dave replied.

Flaherty wasn’t going to make him the waterboy.

In Week 2, Gach played about half of the game and then played even more the following week before moving into the starting lineup in Week 4.

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Gach, who has a 3.5 grade point average, has been a fixture with a commanding presence at right tackle ever since.

Taking command of a situation has been Gach’s M.O. since his earliest days of playing sports.

He was a standout in baseball, basketball, and football. Back then, it was difficult to determine which was his best sport.

“He was always a big kid, always probably the biggest kid,” his father said. “He played quarterback for me in flag football growing up because he had the biggest arm and was a really good athlete.”

Gach was also a standout pitcher and hitter in baseball and more than held his own in basketball.

“Pitching-wise, the challenge was always throwing strikes,” Dave said. “But he definitely threw hard and if he got it over he was probably striking you out.”

He gave up basketball before high school, even though he was a good player.

“I kinda peaked in the fifth grade,” he said, laughing. “I was a decent basketball player back then, but I also realize you can’t be a 6-foot-5 center.”

He was also the DH for the Groves baseball team last spring but is considering switching to track this spring because he wants to increase his speed.

Gach’s parents did not permit him to play tackle football until the seventh grade, which is when he outgrew the quarterback position.

“When I realized you can’t be a 6-5, 280-pound quarterback, I moved to the line,” he said. “I started playing tackle football and they just kind of put me on the line. I’d say I grew a lot going into ninth grade.”

He played tackle football in the seventh grade, but the following fall featured the coronavirus pandemic, which put the kibosh on a lot of youth leagues.

At the time, it seemed like an opportunity lost for Gach, but it proved to be a blessing in disguise.

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As a seventh grader, Gach didn’t appear like someone college coaches would one day be desperate to get on campus.

“He was good, but not great,” his father said. “He hadn’t really found weights yet and was still figuring out his body. In eighth grade was the year of COVID, so no football for any of the kids that year, so he found the weight room and started lifting and really took a liking to it and started to train.”

Because of COVID, most places to work out were closed. That made him desperate to find a place to lift.

“I was lifting anywhere I could get into,” Gach said. “I tried to do stuff in my basement, but we didn’t have that much so I really did a bunch of push-ups, I ate a lot that year so I gained good weight because I started lifting.”

Once he reached Groves, he intensified his lifting and he also changed his eating habits. He realized he needed to get bigger, but it had to be good weight.

Gach’s father made protein shakes for them, and Avery began adding ice cream to the shakes that included frozen fruits, chocolate milk, a lot of peanut butter and protein powder.

The staple of his diet has become peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He usually takes two to three of them to school and eats them throughout the day.

The scale may read 280 pounds, but you can’t tell it by looking at Gach. There isn’t any flab.

Everything in the Gach household changed on Oct. 1, 2022, when Gach received a scholarship offer from Toledo. Two days later, Central Michigan offered him.

On Oct. 6, the day before his birthday, Ohio State came through with a game-changing offer that sent Gach through the roof.

“I knew my recruiting was going to blow up right from there,” he said. “If a school like Ohio State offers you early in your recruiting process, I was kind of done. I didn’t get any more MAC offers after Ohio State, but all of the big-time schools were coming in. That was really cool and exciting.”

MSU and U-M came through with offers over a two-week span, and, gradually, his parents began to realize that they may not have to pay for college for their oldest son.

“It probably was not until Avery got his first offer,” his father said. “When he got his third offer, my wife said to me: ‘Wait. So the scholarship covers everything?’ I had to explain to her that so long as, God forbid, he stays healthy, yes.”

College recruiting can be a painful experience for someone like Gach, who is so grateful to the coaches who have thought enough of him to offer him a scholarship.

“I can take my time, which is a good thing for me,” he said. “Unless I want to end it because it could get stressful.”

With 34 offers on the table, Gach understands he needs to start making some serious decisions about all of these offers.

“I’m trying to cut my list down,” he said. “The one thing about me is it’s hard to tell people no, especially colleges because it’s such a big honor being offered by all of these amazing programs and top-notch schools. Telling the coaches no is probably one of the hardest things.”

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Gach has attended several games on campuses, which leads to another uncomfortable experience: Dealing with the aftermath of a visit.

“The only thing is I get is a bunch of the beat writers call me up after visits,” he said. “That’s tough going through them because there’s like a million different websites of college teams. It can get overwhelming at times.”

Overwhelming is the perfect word to describe his play as an offensive lineman. He did not permit a single sack last season and he hasn’t allowed any this fall.

A lot of that is due to his strength and quickness, which are both a result of his work ethic.

“He’s got all these offers and he’s the hardest-working guy by a mile,” said Flaherty. “We’ve got some guys with offers and he outworks them by a mile.”

That is because of his mentality, which is not usually found in a guy with 34 offers.

“He has the mentality of a walk-on,” Flaherty said. “Especially with the lifting, he’s constantly saying he can’t miss a lift. He feels like if he’s not getting better, he’s going to be replaced.”

Replacing Gach will be difficult, but that won’t happen for another year. Instead, the Falcons will have their motivator around for one more season.

“He’s such a big dude inside; he brings energy,” Flaherty said. “I never had a guy like him. When he hits the field, he flips the switch. It’s contagious, too, with the other guys. It increases the intensity of practice and games. It’s just great.”

Gach not only bugs Flaherty about being able to get into the weight room on off days, but there are a couple of things on his bucket list he’d like to accomplish.

They go back to his days growing up where he could throw the ball further than anyone in his age group — Gach wouldn’t mind throwing a pass here or there for Groves.

“I played flag football my whole entire life before seventh grade and I was starting quarterback there,” he said. “I would throw those Hail Marys.

“I can throw a football decent.”

Flaherty isn’t so sure about that.

“Well,” Flaherty said, “that ship has sailed.”

If he can’t throw, there are other possibilities for the best offensive lineman in the state.

“I tell coach I want to touch the ball one of these weeks,” he said. “I want to catch it or something.”

Flaherty rolls his eyes at that possibility. He would prefer him to settle in at tackle and do what makes him special —dominate the guy across from him.

“There’s no greater feeling than taking a man from Point A to Point B against their will,” Gach said. “It’s the most aggressive position in football, I would say. I just have fun being aggressive. I love it.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1. Order his book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Nearly every college program is after Birmingham Groves OL Avery Gach