@HuskerlandBob Sez: This article is republished from early September. Garrett and his Sutton team are part of Friday's Class C-2 semifinals, hosting Norfolk Catholic.
So you decided to go out for summertime baseball. So tranquil, America’s Pastime, a chance to play ball with your buddies, maybe find a Pizza Hut on the way home.
Great way to spend a summer.
Until you step into the batter’s box and there he is, 60 feet and 6 inches away, looking like he’s close enough to be next in line at the movie theatre. Garrett Nuss, all 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds of him, is about to rock your world.
“I can throw a lot of different pitches, fastball, curve, change up, even a forkball, but I like to bring the heat,” says Garrett, savoring the thought. “I know my size can be intimidating and I try to use that to my advantage.”
Same approach seems to translate real well into the world of football. Already an all-stater, Nuss is considered one of Class C-2’s premier players and among the handful of its best all-around linemen. His team is also off to a smokin’ hot start, winning its first three games by a combined score of 128-7, including back-to-back shutouts.
These facts are not mutually exclusive.
“Garrett is a real easy kid to coach, he is so smart and picks things up real quick. Always good to have a coachable athlete and Garrett is a great example,” says Sutton head coach Steve Ramer. “He directs our line and best thing we can put him at any position and he know his assignments at each of them.”
And Nuss, he has friends. Big friends. Friends who share that offensive line with him, guys like senior center Kinser Rafert (6-2, 240), senior guard Jacob Rogers (6-1, 240), junior guard Braden Petersworth (6-4, 285) and junior tackle Jarvis Smith (6-1, 285). What you don’t want to share with these guys is the lunch line.
“People see how big we are but we have guys in our line who are athletes, too,” says Nuss, who is a leading example. “We have some skill and some speed and guys who give great effort. I really feel like our line is coming together real well.”
In the first third of the season Sutton football in general has come together real well. The Mustangs scored an impressive 40-0 shutout of previously unbeaten Freeman in Week 3 and have a giant challenge on Friday when they face Class C-2 No. 1 Centennial.
“Every game matters but we are in the middle of a four-game stretch that will determine if we are a good team or something better than that,” says Nuss. Following the Centennial game the Mustangs will next face still unbeaten Doniphan-Trumbull and Kearney Catholic, which has lost only to C-1 No. 1 Aurora. “All summer long our goal was to come out of the gate playing well and we have done even better than expected.”
When you grow to be 6-6 and 250 the odds are you didn’t play halfback in youth football. That’s true for Garrett who when asked what would happen if he could get his hands on the ball today only says, “that would be interesting.” It sure would...
Born in Hastings, Garrett has lived in Sutton his entire life and has two sisters and a brother. Hunting and fishing are on his to-do list when he has some downtime and last winter he tried snow skiing for the first time. That, too, was interesting. “And it was a lot of fun,” he adds.
An outstanding student who has a perfect 4.0 GPA Nuss is also in the playing rotation on the basketball team and golfs in the spring prior to his summer filled with baseball. Football and baseball are possibilities for him in college but right now “I have no clue” so Garrett is taking the process day-by-day. His study major is also still to be decided.
Like a stock market investment past performance is no guarantee of future returns, Nuss knows that. But he likes how his team is playing, what is capable of, and how it matches up with all the teams left on its schedule.
“We still have a lot to prove and we have some really hard games coming up but if we take things one game at a time and keep our focus, that’s the key to success. Of course, every team wants to make it to Lincoln (for the state finals) and we are no different.”
