Grootegoed Back on Field at Last

Matt Grootegoed has been unleashed again.

For the first time in more than six months, the soon-to-be USC safety has felt what it’s like to play football this week during practice for Saturday’s 49th Shrine All-Star Football Classic at Cerritos College.

“The kids voted him as team captain after two days of practice, so that shows you the respect he has among our players,” said Westlake High’s Jim Benkert, who will coach the California team that plays Texas.

Grootegoed said he’s revved up simply because he can’t wait to get back on the field.

Last time he was on the field, Grootegoed was writhing in pain. He had just twisted his right ankle so badly on the second series of Mater Dei’s Southern Section Division I championship game against Long Beach Poly that he had to leave the game for good.

“That was kind of a bad thing to get hurt in the championship game,” Grootegoed said Tuesday. “It left a sour taste in my mouth. It’s going to definitely feel good to get back out there and play some football.”

The 6-foot, 200-pound Grootegoed said his ankle is almost back to 100%.

“It nags me a little bit, but it’s nothing I can’t deal with,” he said. “I can run, I can do virtually everything, it’s just that every once in a while I’ll feel a little pain. It’s nothing big. Eventually it will [go away].”

A LESSON IN HUMILITY

Players from both teams spent about an hour Tuesday visiting with patients at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Los Angeles.

Los Alamitos kicker Chris Kluwe played volleyball with several children and made a tower out of wooden building blocks before signing autographs. He said the experience made him realize he shouldn’t take even the most routine aspects of everyday life for granted.

“That really brings it home, seeing those kids and how disadvantaged they are,” said Kluwe, who’s headed to UCLA. “It gives you a sense of what you’re really playing for. It gives you a new look on what you can do and how they’re not able to do it. It makes you a lot more grateful.”

FOR THEIR EYES ONLY

Don’t be surprised if during the game it looks like each team’s defense knows exactly what to expect. That’s because the teams are practicing on adjacent fields that allow about as much privacy as an outhouse without walls.

“We’re within 25 yards of each other, so it’s going to make it very difficult,” Benkert said. “We’re not going to come in with anything they don’t see. Their coaching staff and our coaching staff are trying as best we can to mind our own business, but you never know. We glance up and see something, they glance over and see something, that could be the key to what you’re trying to do.

“In our situation, we’re messing around with stuff we’re never going to do in the game just because we want them to see it.”

The teams tried to stagger their practice start times but achieved limited success because they have access to the field for only a few hours a day.

Any trick plays that the teams expect to use will probably be unveiled Thursday, the only day when the teams will hold separate practice sessions.