Photo by: Van Slider
Football Friday - Last Call For Will Grier
November 22, 2018 05:45 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One of my all-time favorite Pittsburgh writers, Roy McHugh - still going strong at 103 by the way- once wrote this in Sports Illustrated about Jerry West: The Jerry Wests of this world don't come in pairs.
Well, I sometimes think of that when I watch Will Grier play football games for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
What talent!
What accuracy!
What poise!
My memory of West Virginia quarterbacks spans back to Dan Kendra in the mid-1970s, so those before him I've only seen from footage on tattered, old game films.
The old-timers I'd talk to used to praise Jimmy Walthall's athleticism in the late 1940s, and Freddy Wyant's field generalship in the mid-1950s.
Mike Sherwood wasn't very big, but I am told he was a terrific athlete for his size and was equally adept at operating a nationally ranked passing attack, as he did in 1968, or a nationally ranked rushing attack, as he did in 1969.
The late Bernie Galiffa relied on high-arching, long bombs to Danny Buggs, Marshall Mills and Nate Stephens to lead Bobby Bowden's sixth-ranked Mountaineer passing attack in 1972, and Kendra had his moments directing West Virginia's offense during the transition from Bowden to Frank Cignetti.
Don Nehlen found immediate success with the cerebral Oliver Luck under center in 1980, and that success continued with Jeff Hostetler in 1982.
The Hoss was also cerebral, just like Luck, and he was tough, too. Hostetler probably endured the worst beating a Mountaineer quarterback has ever absorbed in West Virginia's 16-13 loss to second-ranked Pitt in 1982.
Facing all of those Panther first rounders in a defensive lineup that Chris Doleman couldn't crack, Hostetler had to be carried off the field after the game, then carried onto the bus and then the next day helped out of bed and assisted to the stadium to get treatments. Now that's tough.
Major Harris was the most creative and entertaining quarterback West Virginia has ever had, his on-field wizardry leading the Mountaineers to the cusp of their first national championship at the end of the 1988 season.
Harris' performance against Penn State in 1988 alone has contributed to his stranglehold on the hearts of Mountaineer fans that continues to this day.
Jake "The Snake" Kelchner led West Virginia to an undefeated regular season in 1993 and attained a cult-like status on campus.
Quite often, WVU students could saddle up next to Jake at one of the local watering holes after home games to get a blow-by-blow account of each victory. Almost everybody who went to school at WVU in the early 1990s has at least one good Jake Kelchner story to tell.
Marc Bulger was the most accurate passer I've ever seen, his right-handed flings capable of hitting any open receiver right between the numbers.
Bulger was also very popular on campus in the late 1990s.
Elusive Rasheed Marshall was the right quarterback for Rich Rodriguez's spread offense when Rich Rod took over for Don Nehlen in 2001, and Marshall paved the way for the success Pat White enjoyed in the mid-2000s.
The first time I saw White throw a football as a true freshman in practice I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me? This is the guy LSU wanted so bad?"
The coaches also used to blow the whistle during team scrimmages before a defender could hit him, so we never really saw what White was capable of doing. But once he got out onto the field and the whistle wasn't blown until he was tackled … that's when White transformed into one of the most dynamic football players these eyes have ever seen.
Even his passes sailed much better when the games counted.
There is no quarterback in school history before or since who can match White as a pure winner. We saw what he did to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl as a freshman, what he did against Georgia Tech as a sophomore in the Gator Bowl and what he did to Oklahoma during his junior season in the Fiesta Bowl.
White was a special, special player during a special, special time in West Virginia University football history.
The quarterback recruited off of the success White's WVU teams enjoyed, Geno Smith, turned out to be the most prolific passer in school history once he got paired with Dana Holgorsen.
Smith's games against Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl and against Baylor in the first-ever Big 12 game played at Milan Puskar Stadium are beyond description. Based solely on numbers, Smith established a standard that will be difficult to duplicate.
Transfers Clint Trickett and Skyler Howard were much better quarterbacks than many fans gave them credit for being, particularly the often-criticized Howard.
In 2016, Skyler was one of just six West Virginia quarterbacks ever to lead the Mountaineers to a 10-win season (in the Big 12 mind you), which is quite an accomplishment.
And then came Mr. Grier, whose junior season in 2017 was robbed of two games when he broke the middle finger on his passing hand against Texas. Another one was taken away earlier this year when Hurricane Florence wiped out the NC State game in Raleigh.
Yet for sheer consistency, no quarterback can match what Grier has accomplished during the 20 full games he's played at WVU leading into tomorrow night's game against Oklahoma (I don't count last year's Texas game among them).
He's thrown for more than 300 yards in all of the complete games he's played with the exception of two; he's thrown four or more touchdown passes in eight of them and three or more TDs in all but four.
Last year, he had West Virginia in the national rankings up until the time his season ended in week 11, and this year the Mountaineers have been nationally ranked all season long.
He's West Virginia's first legitimate Heisman Trophy contender since Major Harris finished third in 1989.
Like Harris three decades prior, Grier will likely maintain a stranglehold on the hearts of West Virginians well beyond his playing days.
Mountaineer fans are going to miss Grier nearly as much as Grier is going to miss West Virginia University – his Carpathia once things turned sour at Florida.
He touched on some of the things that will be going through his mind on Friday night when he plays his final home game against sixth-ranked Oklahoma.
"Oh man," he began, "there are so many things I'm going to miss. The relationships you build in college football are different. I had the opportunity to play at Florida for a couple of years, and I still have lifelong friends there and I learned a lot from some great coaches.
"It's been the same thing here. I've met a lot of great people – not just in the football room but around this place … the basketball team, the compliance office, everybody. At the end of the day that's what I appreciate most is just being able to talk to people and those relationships are very important – something I will always cherish."
Grier continued.
"I have high school friends that I still talk to, but it's different when you put the hours in that you put in for this," Grier said. "We sacrifice a lot of time to be good at this sport and with that time, we're all in here together doing the same thing. There are a lot of things I will miss about this place in general terms, but the one thing I will miss most is just being in here with some of these guys."
Three years ago, Will Grier wasn't on anybody's radar screen in West Virginia - just as West Virginia University wasn't on his radar.
But things can change quickly.
"What is on your radar?" Grier asked. "This is part of the experience, and I wouldn't change it, and I'm so thankful and grateful for the opportunity that I was given here and to the people that I've been around."
So it comes down to one final time tomorrow night for Grier in front of the home folks before his name fades into history with all of those other great quarterbacks we've watched in the past.
Where they all rank is a matter of personal preference, but I suspect Grier's name will be placed pretty highly among them, perhaps even near the top.
In my book, that's certainly where he belongs.
Well, I sometimes think of that when I watch Will Grier play football games for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
What talent!
What accuracy!
What poise!
My memory of West Virginia quarterbacks spans back to Dan Kendra in the mid-1970s, so those before him I've only seen from footage on tattered, old game films.
The old-timers I'd talk to used to praise Jimmy Walthall's athleticism in the late 1940s, and Freddy Wyant's field generalship in the mid-1950s.
Mike Sherwood wasn't very big, but I am told he was a terrific athlete for his size and was equally adept at operating a nationally ranked passing attack, as he did in 1968, or a nationally ranked rushing attack, as he did in 1969.
The late Bernie Galiffa relied on high-arching, long bombs to Danny Buggs, Marshall Mills and Nate Stephens to lead Bobby Bowden's sixth-ranked Mountaineer passing attack in 1972, and Kendra had his moments directing West Virginia's offense during the transition from Bowden to Frank Cignetti.
Don Nehlen found immediate success with the cerebral Oliver Luck under center in 1980, and that success continued with Jeff Hostetler in 1982.
The Hoss was also cerebral, just like Luck, and he was tough, too. Hostetler probably endured the worst beating a Mountaineer quarterback has ever absorbed in West Virginia's 16-13 loss to second-ranked Pitt in 1982.
Facing all of those Panther first rounders in a defensive lineup that Chris Doleman couldn't crack, Hostetler had to be carried off the field after the game, then carried onto the bus and then the next day helped out of bed and assisted to the stadium to get treatments. Now that's tough.
Major Harris was the most creative and entertaining quarterback West Virginia has ever had, his on-field wizardry leading the Mountaineers to the cusp of their first national championship at the end of the 1988 season.
Harris' performance against Penn State in 1988 alone has contributed to his stranglehold on the hearts of Mountaineer fans that continues to this day.
Jake "The Snake" Kelchner led West Virginia to an undefeated regular season in 1993 and attained a cult-like status on campus.
Quite often, WVU students could saddle up next to Jake at one of the local watering holes after home games to get a blow-by-blow account of each victory. Almost everybody who went to school at WVU in the early 1990s has at least one good Jake Kelchner story to tell.
Marc Bulger was the most accurate passer I've ever seen, his right-handed flings capable of hitting any open receiver right between the numbers.
Bulger was also very popular on campus in the late 1990s.
Elusive Rasheed Marshall was the right quarterback for Rich Rodriguez's spread offense when Rich Rod took over for Don Nehlen in 2001, and Marshall paved the way for the success Pat White enjoyed in the mid-2000s.
The first time I saw White throw a football as a true freshman in practice I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me? This is the guy LSU wanted so bad?"
The coaches also used to blow the whistle during team scrimmages before a defender could hit him, so we never really saw what White was capable of doing. But once he got out onto the field and the whistle wasn't blown until he was tackled … that's when White transformed into one of the most dynamic football players these eyes have ever seen.
Even his passes sailed much better when the games counted.
There is no quarterback in school history before or since who can match White as a pure winner. We saw what he did to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl as a freshman, what he did against Georgia Tech as a sophomore in the Gator Bowl and what he did to Oklahoma during his junior season in the Fiesta Bowl.
White was a special, special player during a special, special time in West Virginia University football history.
The quarterback recruited off of the success White's WVU teams enjoyed, Geno Smith, turned out to be the most prolific passer in school history once he got paired with Dana Holgorsen.
Smith's games against Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl and against Baylor in the first-ever Big 12 game played at Milan Puskar Stadium are beyond description. Based solely on numbers, Smith established a standard that will be difficult to duplicate.
Transfers Clint Trickett and Skyler Howard were much better quarterbacks than many fans gave them credit for being, particularly the often-criticized Howard.
In 2016, Skyler was one of just six West Virginia quarterbacks ever to lead the Mountaineers to a 10-win season (in the Big 12 mind you), which is quite an accomplishment.
And then came Mr. Grier, whose junior season in 2017 was robbed of two games when he broke the middle finger on his passing hand against Texas. Another one was taken away earlier this year when Hurricane Florence wiped out the NC State game in Raleigh.
Yet for sheer consistency, no quarterback can match what Grier has accomplished during the 20 full games he's played at WVU leading into tomorrow night's game against Oklahoma (I don't count last year's Texas game among them).
He's thrown for more than 300 yards in all of the complete games he's played with the exception of two; he's thrown four or more touchdown passes in eight of them and three or more TDs in all but four.
Last year, he had West Virginia in the national rankings up until the time his season ended in week 11, and this year the Mountaineers have been nationally ranked all season long.
He's West Virginia's first legitimate Heisman Trophy contender since Major Harris finished third in 1989.
Like Harris three decades prior, Grier will likely maintain a stranglehold on the hearts of West Virginians well beyond his playing days.
Mountaineer fans are going to miss Grier nearly as much as Grier is going to miss West Virginia University – his Carpathia once things turned sour at Florida.
He touched on some of the things that will be going through his mind on Friday night when he plays his final home game against sixth-ranked Oklahoma.
"Oh man," he began, "there are so many things I'm going to miss. The relationships you build in college football are different. I had the opportunity to play at Florida for a couple of years, and I still have lifelong friends there and I learned a lot from some great coaches.
"It's been the same thing here. I've met a lot of great people – not just in the football room but around this place … the basketball team, the compliance office, everybody. At the end of the day that's what I appreciate most is just being able to talk to people and those relationships are very important – something I will always cherish."
Grier continued.
"I have high school friends that I still talk to, but it's different when you put the hours in that you put in for this," Grier said. "We sacrifice a lot of time to be good at this sport and with that time, we're all in here together doing the same thing. There are a lot of things I will miss about this place in general terms, but the one thing I will miss most is just being in here with some of these guys."
Three years ago, Will Grier wasn't on anybody's radar screen in West Virginia - just as West Virginia University wasn't on his radar.
But things can change quickly.
"What is on your radar?" Grier asked. "This is part of the experience, and I wouldn't change it, and I'm so thankful and grateful for the opportunity that I was given here and to the people that I've been around."
So it comes down to one final time tomorrow night for Grier in front of the home folks before his name fades into history with all of those other great quarterbacks we've watched in the past.
Where they all rank is a matter of personal preference, but I suspect Grier's name will be placed pretty highly among them, perhaps even near the top.
In my book, that's certainly where he belongs.
Players Mentioned
QB
/ FootballCam Cook | March 30
Monday, March 30
Coach Jay Boulware | March 30
Monday, March 30
Coach Rich Rodriguez | March 30
Monday, March 30
Rick Trickett | March 24
Tuesday, March 24
