Gradkowski takes reins at St. Francis as new era begins for Knights football

Aug. 2—Bruce Gradkowski felt those old familiar feelings bubbling up in his stomach as he drove to his first official practice as the new football coach of the St. Francis de Sales Knights on Sunday.

The former NFL quarterback and University of Toledo hall of famer said he felt a mix of jitters, anticipation, and enthusiasm as he led his new charges.

"There's that excitement. It's that camp feeling again," Gradkowski said. "I haven't had that since 2016 when I was with the Steelers. So I'm just fired up to be back."

High school football teams around the state held their first official practices on Sunday.

Gradkowski takes over at St. Francis for Dan Chipka, who left for a college coaching position at Wingate University.

Gradkowski, who played at Toledo from 2001-05, was inducted into the Rockets' athletic hall of fame in 2012. He was then selected by Tampa Bay in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL draft and went on to play eight seasons in the league with Cleveland, Oakland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh.

This is his first head coaching position.

"The guys have been putting in a lot of good work over this last month and I've been encouraged and excited to be around them," Gradkowski said. "I want to help guide them the best I can."

No one is more eager to learn from the NFL veteran than senior quarterback Denim Truss. The 6-foot-4 and 225-pound signal-caller is taking over for the graduated Dayven Kizer.

"Being hands-on with a quarterback that played in the NFL will be great for everyone on the team," Truss said. "He's a great guy. He's teaching me a bunch of different things right now. We're moving pretty fast. We're fired up and ready to go. I'm learning a lot from him every day."

Gradkowski takes over a Knights program that has made two straight playoff appearances. In last fall's shortened season, St. Francis went 4-2 during the regular season and finished 6-3 overall after beating North Ridgeville and Anthony Wayne in the playoffs.

"We want to hold up the standards that St. Francis has, not only on the football field but off, in the classroom, and outside the building," Gradkowski said. "We take pride in that."

Truss, who was the Knights' starting QB as a sophomore, suffered a season-ending broken ankle in the 2019 season opener.

"We're all excited for the season," Truss said. "It's great. We have a bunch of guys out here that are fired up to play. We're going to try to win as much as we can and go as far as we can possibly go."

Gradkowski has worked at the high school level before, helping out with the quarterbacks at Anthony Wayne in 2018.

"Denim has been doing a great job this offseason," he said. "He's really working hard, focusing on what he can control and learning the offense. I've been really impressed. He's a big guy. He's smooth. He has a really good arm. He's just a generally good guy. It's fun to work with him."

Gradkowski and his staff have an increased sense of urgency to install their systems. The season will start earlier than it ever has before after the Ohio High School Athletic Association moved up the regular season by a week to accommodate an expanded playoff format.

St. Francis hosts Clyde in the season opener Aug. 20 at the Glass Bowl.

"The season opener is only a few weeks away so we have a lot of work to do to get ready for that time," Gradkowski said. "We have a great coaching staff that's willing to put in the time. It's been fun. It's always exciting in camp. You know there's a lot of work ahead."

Truss said the players were disappointed after Chipka, who was 16-22 overall and 11-16 in Three Rivers Athletic Conference play over his four seasons guiding the Knights, left. But that mood quickly turned to excitement when Gradkowski's hiring was announced on June 15.

"It was sad that Chip left. With him being here the program was on a nice uptrend, getting better every year. But with a great guy like Bruce coming, it's hard to be mad at that," Truss said. "It's a new coach, but it's the same Knights. We're going to push forward and we'll persevere and we're going to win."

Truss said the Knights will be a fun team to watch and should compete for a TRAC title.

"There's a bunch of contact in football. You have to think on your feet. You don't want to get hit, you want to score. We plan on doing a lot of scoring this year, in the air and on the ground," Truss said with a broad smile. "I love it. It's fun."

Although Sunday was the first official practice with pads on for the Knights, Gradkowski said his players have been working hard over the summer.

"It's going well. They've been willing to put in the work and there's no substitute for putting in the work," he said. "We'll see where it ends up."

Gradkowski said his Knights will be a resilient group.

"We will focus on what we can control and that's our attitude and our effort and our preparation. That takes no physical ability," he said. "We'll put in the work and see where it ends up at the end of the day. And we're going to have fun with it. This is a competitive game but we also want to grow together and learn some things that can help us, more importantly, off the field."