Springs Valley Community High School

On Wednesday evening, Griffin McGee took the latest in an improbable set of steps. The former soccer player who turned to playing football, then became a kicking specialist at a school that hadn’t seen many of those, then became one of the best small-school kickers in the state took the stage in the auditorium at Springs Valley and put pen to paper, officially signing to continue his career at the University of Indianapolis. “It’s the best feeling in the world. I’ve dreamed of this day for as long as I can remember,” McGee said. “It’s just awesome to continue my athletic career after high school.” McGee finished his high-school career with pretty much every kicking-adjacent school record, single-season and career, in his possession. He hit 93 of the 104 PAT attempts he took across four seasons and was incredibly consistent in that department, hitting 87 percent or more of his PATs each year. He hit 10 of 16 career field goal attempts and after going 3-7 as a junior he improved drastically as a senior, hitting six of seven and setting a career long of 43 yards. He also totaled 6,970 yards — nearly four miles, for reference — on 183 attempts and despite not having a touchback in either of his first two seasons, he finished with 11 for his career. With UIndy, McGee has an opportunity that’s very important to him: the opportunity to play in front of family and friends on a regular basis as a collegian. During his recruitment he visited schools all over the place, from Dartmouth College in Vermont to schools closer to home like Ball State, Wabash, and Valparaiso. Ultimately proximity to home was something that weighed heavily in his decision and made the Greyhounds a logical choice. “It means so much to me. I looked at a lot of other schools. I visited Dartmouth and that’s a plane ride and a half to get over there,” McGee said. “UIndy’s a two-hour drive and that’s really awesome. I know I’m going to have huge support at every single game. It’s going to be a lot like high school where I’ve got the same fans there.” With his signing officially taken care of, McGee gets to move to his next order of business — preparing to compete when he arrives on campus. When he moves to Indianapolis after graduation he’ll look to entrench himself in a battle for both playing time and a scholarship and, if history proves anything, he’ll work his way onto the field. “It’s going to be different for sure. I made goals at the beginning of the year and one of those goals was to earn a scholarship,” McGee said. “I’ve had talks and I’ve got one guy to beat, so I’m going to be working my hardest to earn that scholarship and hopefully graduate without paying a dime in tuition.”