By Greg Bates

Special to the Community Spirit

[Editor’s note: As the Fall football season gets underway, the Spirit checked in with two familiar former Falcons who have continued their football careers.]

Tyler Biadasz: Feeding his hunger

His third year in the NFL was a special one for Tyler Biadasz.

The Dallas Cowboys center grew as a person and as a football player. He even checked off a lifelong goal: Being named an NFL Pro Bowler.

“It was great,” Biadasz said. “That is one of the things that you strive to be at that level and be respected at that level as well from players around the league. Just to be able to be part of that — and I’m very grateful and very appreciative of that — it also motivates me to continue that and be there at a consistent level now. It kind of puts me in a great mindset to know how to go about my business and go about life.”

Biadasz, a 2016 Amherst graduate, was chosen to go to Las Vegas for the Pro Bowl with five of his Cowboys teammates. He had the opportunity to chat with players in the NFL he’s watched on film.

“It was a great time, but it’s one of those things where now you put yourself in a position to keep going, keep striving for greatness and keep chasing that every year,” he said. “Now you have a little taste of it, so it’s like you’re more hungry.”

Biadasz is definitely hungry entering his fourth season in the NFL. A fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft, Biadasz has started 37 regular-season games in his career — 16 this past year. He also started both the Cowboys’ playoff contests in 2022.

Heading into the season — which will be the final year of his rookie contract — Biadasz is more focused on how his team does in the postseason than his individual goals.

The Cowboys, the #3 seed in the NFC last season, ended their season with a Divisional Round loss.

“I think most importantly the team goal is to win the Super Bowl, that’s plain and simple to me,” Biadasz said. “Individually, you want to be the best version of yourself and to your position. It speaks volumes of what your goals are that if you do that you’re giving your team the best chance to win.”

During his first three seasons playing for the Cowboys, Biadasz has become a staple in the Dallas metroplex.

He tries to be a big part of the community, volunteering with team activities. He’s also a board member for the Blocking Hunger Foundation, which is run by former UW-Madison and Cowboys offensive lineman Travis Frederick.

Earlier this year, Biadasz started his own foundation: Center of Change, which is committed to spreading mental health awareness and addressing food insecurity by recognizing the impact of food hunger and poor nutrition on mental well-being.

“I’m having different exercises and other activities that support your mental health, but also just knowing how food interacts with that and how it affects the younger generation, because that’s our future,” Biadasz said. “You want them to be at their best whether it’s in the classroom, playing sports, clubs, home-life, or life in general, so you just want them to grow in the aspect of knowing what putting in their body is going to show in their real life and how they think, feel, play sports, everyday life.”

Garret Groshek: Ready for anything

While playing at UW-Madison, Garrett Groshek carved out a niche as being a bruising running back — a guy who can pick up a tough yard or two.

He’s carried that mentality over to the professional game.

Groshek recently wrapped up his second season with the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League (USFL). The 2016 Amherst graduate was the starting running back for most of the season, picking up 209 yards rushing on 77 carries and one touchdown during the regular season.

“I got kind of banged up the first play of the season and then ended up missing Week 2 and just trying to find ways to get healthy at the right time,” Groshek said. “It felt like I was finally starting to get healthy towards the end there, and that was when the team needed me to be at my best and everybody to be at their best, so it just happened to be good timing.

“We were kind of a chameleon of an offense where sometimes we’d be heavy spread and we wouldn’t run the ball and then, at the end of the season, we would run the ball and weren’t throwing it much. So we had to stay ready for what was going to work best in the game.”

Groshek added 48 yards receiving — an area of his game that he excelled at in college.

“That stuff I feel like is a strength for me for the most part,” Groshek said. “I struggled a little bit early on this year doing it, but kind of relaxed and started to focus on the technique of stuff and just focusing on my job and ended up playing better down the stretch.”

Individually, Groshek had a solid season. As a team, the Maulers won their postseason division title — as Groshek scored the first touchdown of the game to help beat the Michigan Panthers 31-27 in overtime. In the USFL championship game against the Birmingham Stallions, the Maulers lost to the defending champs 28-12 on July 1.

Groshek had a satisfying second season in the USFL and was thrilled to play in the title game.

“It was a lot better than last year, just being able to do it with the great group of guys. We had to fight our way the last few weeks to put ourselves in there,” he said. “We were confident down that stretch that we’d be able to do it and then we all just got on the same page and realized that all of us just wanted to win and keep winning — none of us wanted to go home.”

After going undrafted in 2021, Groshek got a shot at the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders. However, he was cut before the preseason started.

Groshek still has the desire to play football, even if that’s in the USFL again or getting another chance in the NFL.

“Absolutely,” Groshek said. “I’m not done chasing yet.”

Groshek’s agent is constantly watching the NFL waiver wire to see if an opportunity might arise with a team.

“We’ll find out in August if I can find my way into a camp or workouts or anything with the NFL,” Groshek said. “That’s really as far as I can get. I can’t do much planning beyond that.

“For me, it’s usually not even a year-by-year, it’s a month-by-month and just kind of going with it; just trying to stay in the moment the best that I can.”

Tyler Biadasz (#63) continues playing center for the Dallas Cowboys.

Photo courtesy Dallas Cowboys

Dallas center Tyler Biadasz snaps the ball to his quarterback.

Garrett Groshek has transitioned from Amherst quarterback to Pittsburgh Maulers running back.

Photo courtesy WSAW