In the 2023 season, the Unicorns are once again putting their trust in a German quarterback: With 24-year-old Ian Gehrke, a real unicorn is taking the helm in Hall’s attack! “I’m really looking forward to starting next season with a German player and a homegrown player from Schwäbisch Hall as an attacking midfielder.”says offensive coordinator Felix Brenner. “Ian is a football fanatic and throughout his career, he has showcased his football skills. I’m really looking forward to building the offense around Ian!”
The son of Unicorns founder, longtime head coach and current sporting director Siegfried Gehrke started playing football at an early age. Ian Gehrke began his career with the Unicorns-Bambini playing flag football at the age of nine and has gone through all stages of the Unicorns youth program, first as a quarterback and then as a wide receiver. Lui took part in two European Flag Championships for Germany and spent 2014 as an exchange student in the United States at Hampden Academy in Maine, where he played catcher and kicker.
In 2018 Ian Gehrke joined the Haller GFL team as a receiver, but returned to the quarterback role in 2021 as a backup to Alexander Haupert. In the 2022 season, Gehrke made a move to the European League of Football (ELF) and was used by the Berlin Thunder as a receiver and quarterback. Now he’s returning to his hometown, where he also set a GFL record: With a 12.5 rating, Ian is the all-time GFL leader in yards per pass attempt, ahead of his well-known American predecessors in this category , the Unicorns, Reilly Hennessey, Aaron Boehme, Jake Spitzelberger and Jadrian Clark, who fill the second through fifth spots.
„Being the starting quarterback for the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns is something very special in European football and a big challenge with big expectations.” says Ian Gehrke. “II am aware of this and I am very happy to take on this role. I already played coaching for Christian Rothe when I was young and worked well with Felix Brenner in 2021. I’m really looking forward to leading the Unicorns into this new era as a point guard.”
In the Haller attack, Ian Gehrke can build on some important pillars of the success of the Haller champion team 2022. More recently, long-standing guarantors of success such as the “O-Line anchor” and center Moritz Schreiber, Lukas Schäfer and special teams kicker Tim Stadelmayr were confirmed for another year with the Unicorns. The two running backs Lars Kozlowski and Mike Gentili will also be seen in Haller’s attack. In addition, lineman Jorin Herrmann and the two linebackers Tobias Löffler and Henri Bendel have already reported for the new season on defense.
The Unicorns are especially happy that 31-year-old top receiver Tyler Rutenbeck has also confirmed for his eighth year at Schwäbisch Hall. He has been a crowd favorite since the 2016 season and is the Unicorns’ most successful pass recipient, holds the all-time record of 95 touchdown passes caught in the Erima GFL, was in the German Bowl seven times with the Unicorns and won three times.
„Tyler is very valuable to us in so many ways.”, says Felix Brenner. “He always presented opposing defenders with almost impossible tasks. With his experience and years of knowledge of the Unicorns system, he is a solid pillar of our offense. Having him in the team makes my job as offensive coordinator much easier.”
Tyler Rutenbeck by Carsten Goetze
