Blake Grupe

Early life

Blake Grupe was born on November 5, 1998. He attended Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Missouri, and was a three-sport athlete, playing soccer, baseball and football, although he did not begin playing football until his sophomore year. As a senior, he was named all-state in both football and soccer, setting the school's records for single-season and career field goals made. He committed to play college football for the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

College career

As a true freshman at Arkansas State in 2017, Grupe redshirted. The following year, he earned the starting placekicking job in week three and finished the season having converted 14 of 21 attempts, placing seventh in the Sun Belt Conference. In 2019, Grupe made 19 of 22 field goal attempts and was named first-team all-conference as well as a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award as best placekicker nationally; his 110 total points scored set a school record for kickers and was second-best in the conference, additionally being the 13th-best total in the United States.

In 2020, Grupe went 11-of-18 on field goals and made 43 extra points. In his final year at Arkansas State, 2021, he made 20 of 25 field goals and all but one of his 32 extra point attempts. He holds several school records, including career extra points made (162), career field goals made (64) and career points scored (354). Grupe transferred to Notre Dame for his final season of eligibility in 2022. He went 14-of-19 on field goals and made all 49 of his extra point attempts in his lone year with the team.