KMAland OPOTY Kunze picks NAIA champion Grand View

(Neola) -- The reigning KMAland Offensive Player of the Year in A/1A/2A has a college destination set.

Tri-Center star Carter Kunze announced late last week he will play football at the next level with Grand View.

“Around the end of my junior year, I started getting recruited,” Kunze said. “I started going on some junior days, and I got invited to a couple of those with GPAC schools. I went to a couple camps during the summer, and I was fortunate to get offered from some of those schools. Grand View was one of them that offered me after their camp, and then I went on a couple game day visits this fall. Grand View was one of them, and I just really liked the school.”

Kunze says there were plenty of things to like about the NAIA school situated in Des Moines, even before they won the most recent NAIA national championship.

“I really liked the campus and the winning culture was something I really liked,” Kunze said. “The coaching staff was nice, too. They seemed like great guys, and they had a lot of football knowledge. It just felt like a good fit. I didn’t have any doubts or concerns about the school or the football program.”

The Trojans star added that he also looked deeper than the football program when making his decision.

“I looked into how if I could go to a school without playing football, I could see myself being a student there,” he said. “Grand View was one of those that stood out to me like that, and that was probably one of the biggest reasons why I chose there.”

There was also plenty to like from the Grand View perspective. Kunze proved to be the premiere player in Class A football this past season, finishing with 2,487 yards rushing and 39 touchdowns while leading the Trojans to their first state football championship. 

“I think we run a similar offense,” Kunze said. “We run a spread-style offense, and that is something I looked at, too. They told me I’m a physical runner with great contact balance, and they believed in me. That was something I took into consideration, too.”

There was one potential blip on the Grand View radar, as head coach Joe Woodley left the program to take over as Drake’s head coach. However, that didn’t change much, if anything, for Kunze.

“I called the coaches, and they said just their head coach and defensive coordinator were leaving,” Kunze said. “Everybody else is staying, and they’re only bringing in one other coach from somewhere else. That was something I was looking at, but when he said everybody else is staying, that was good news to hear.”

Listen to much more with Kunze on his college decision in the audio file below.