Massillon (Ohio) senior defensive back-wide receiver Bo Grunder was the heart and soul of the Tigers in 2009, leading his team to the state semi-finals where they lost to Cleveland Glenville 31-17.
Grunder, 5-foot-11, 170-pounds, had an amazing year, being named the Ohio Division-I Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He recorded over 100 tackles from his safety spot and intercepted nine passes. On offense, he had 36 receptions for 459 yards. He also excelled as a special teams player for the Tigers.
"We had a great season even though we thought we could have gone to the championship game," Grunder said. "The highlight of our season was beating Canton McKinley in the playoff game. They beat us in the regular season and all we wanted was a second shot at them, so knocking them out of the playoffs was sweet. We played well the next week against Glenville (a 31-17 loss) but they were the better team."
Although his individual season accomplishments were great, Grunder preferred to emphasize his team's goals rather than his own.
"All I tried to do was win games for my team," he admitted. "I'm not the biggest guy out there and going both ways left me pretty sore, but I did my best throughout the week to get ready to go for the next game. All season long, all I cared about was winning, not my stats or college recruiting, or anything else."
Regarding college recruiting, Grunder does have two offers at this time, but he is still open to hearing from any school.
"Recruiting is good pretty good for me," Grunder stated. "I have two offers, Eastern Michigan and Air Force. I haven't spent much time thinking about that stuff until just recently, because our season was still going on. I'm still open to listen to what any school has to say and there are some others interested, but I'm very happy with the two schools that have offered."