Dylan Groff

During his four years at ETHS, Dylan Groff starred in both lacrosse and football, being a four-year varsity lacrosse player and the starting quarterback for varsity football. Although Groff likely could have played football in college, he learned throughout high school that he wanted to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. In November of Groff’s junior year, he committed to playing lacrosse at Rutgers University. 

“To be honest, I always wanted to play football. I never really thought I wanted to play lacrosse in college … [As a rising Junior], I had a really good summer with lacrosse, and it all happened really fast from there. With Rutgers, I couldn’t pass that up,” said Groff.

Groff’s recruiting process happened in the blink of an eye. Per the NCAA recruiting rules, colleges cannot reach out to players until Sept. 1 at midnight of the athlete’s junior year. Rutgers reached out to Groff about as soon as they possibly could have.

“Rutgers reached out to me at 12:07 AM on Sep. 1,” Groff said.

Rutgers wasn’t the only school that showed interest in Groff: Michigan, Delaware, Long Island University and UMass also showed interest. After visiting several schools, Groff immediately fell in love with Rutgers over the others.

“I got to talk to some of the guys on the team, and I felt that I could have just fallen in with those guys; they were just so nice and so helpful, even to a junior who was not even committed. They were all great leaders; they just had such a presence.”

For Groff, the most exciting thing about playing lacrosse at the collegiate level is the chance to compete at a higher level.

“Getting to play such a high level of lacrosse every single day, year-round, is gonna be so much fun. To play with some of the best guys in the country is going to be a blast.”

Even though Groff is moving on in his lacrosse career, he had so many good times playing for ETHS. His favorite lacrosse memory at ETHS came in an upset win against Marist High School during his junior year.

“The Marist game was probably my favorite game I have ever played in, because they were ranked so high above us and we kind of just sh*t on them.”

Groff cherished playing with his childhood friends.

“There are a lot of guys on the team that I have been playing with since I was seven years old, playing with those friends that I have been playing with for forever was amazing,” Groff said. “I’ll never get that again.”