As Andrean senior Mark Grubbs Jr. sees it, his time to shine has arrived.
Grubbs, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound wide receiver/cornerback, was limited to four games during his freshman season, primarily on the junior varsity team, after suffering a fractured left hip. Then he missed the first three games of his sophomore season after suffering a concussion that summer.
Grubbs remained healthy last season as the 59ers won the Class 2A state title, and the stars seem to be aligning for him.
“Last year was really just like my year to prove myself,” he said. “This year is my year to really put myself out there. This is my year to show everything I can do.”
Andrean coach Chris Skinner doesn’t doubt it. He has set a high bar for Grubbs, who made 21 catches for 242 yards and a touchdown last season. Grubbs also competes in sprints and jumps in track and field.
“In my mind, he’s somebody who really defines the Andrean football player — really focused, really dedicated,” Skinner said. “His career at Andrean, at least on the football side, is marked by steady improvement every year, and that’s obviously a credit to his work ethic and dedication to the craft. I’m excited. He’s primed for a really big year.
“He’s a two-sport athlete who’s just a good representation of the Andrean athlete — multisport, high character, strong academics, relentless work ethic, developing into a strong leader.”
Grubbs’ qualities stand out to junior wide receiver Tyler Vo too.
“He brings a lot of energy to the team,” Vo said. “He’s a leader for us. He’s just a big part of the team, a big part of what we do.”
Grubbs has grown into that type of player for the 59ers, who have been practicing at the Dean and Barbara White Community Center in Merrillville after a June 11 tornado damaged the school.
Grubbs was born in Kansas, also lived in Missouri and Illinois, and attended kindergarten through seventh grade in Texas. His family moved from the Fort Worth area to Northwest Indiana before he started eighth grade.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Grubbs, whose father, Mark Sr., played basketball for Merrillville and mother, DeEtta, ran track at Lew Wallace. He has extended family in the area.
“Every time I moved from Kansas to Missouri to Texas, every vacation I came back here because my family lives here,” Grubbs said. “So when we first moved here, this whole area was never new to me, especially Merrillville.”
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Grubbs’ oldest sister Laila played basketball and graduated from high school in Texas in 2022. His older sister Jackson was a standout soccer player in her junior and senior years at Andrean before she graduated in 2024.
Through seventh grade, Grubbs focused mainly on basketball. He said football “definitely just wasn’t my thing at the time.”
“I didn’t truly understand it at first, and my sophomore year I still didn’t really know much about football,” he said.
But Grubbs was inspired by uncles and several cousins who played football in college.
“I thought, ‘You know what, it’s in my family, let me give football a try,’ and I’m happy I did,” he said.
Grubbs will likely have an opportunity to play in college too.
“He’s going to play college football somewhere,” Skinner said. “Obviously, college football recruiting right now is kind of crazy. So it’s hard to predict exactly where guys are going to end up.
“But I know he did well in a lot of summer camps he went to, and there’s going to be a handful of schools that are monitoring him throughout the season, watching his film. Then after the season, we’ll get to work on finding him a home, as we do with many of our guys after the season.”
Grubbs and the 59ers, who move up to Class 3A this season, hope to put together another long run. He believes they have the tools after winning a state title last year.
“That’s the goal, but it’s never given,” he said. “It’s never given. It’s always earned. But with the potential of these guys, I’d say confidently the goal is the same as last year. I just want to do my part.”