Radio sideline reporter Jed Drenning provides periodic commentary on the Mountaineer football program for WVUsports.com. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @TheSignalCaller.
 
Life for teams visiting Bill Snyder Family Stadium is kind of like Thanksgiving dinner at the world's worst in-laws. 
 
At first blush, this picturesque venue tucked into the north end of Kansas State's campus feels inviting. For starters, the stadium itself has the word "Family" right there in the name. You can't get much more hospitable than that. The sidelines have generous dimensions and as visitors' locker rooms go, what K-State provides is well-maintained and relatively spacious. It's an easier place than most to suit up, stretch your legs and prepare for action.
 
Perhaps the most insidious example of KSU's guest outreach, however, is found on the press level, strategically located within feet of the visitors' broadcast booth … a commercial ice cream freezer chock-full of every confection your 8-year-old self can imagine. Klondikes? Of course. Choco Tacos? You bet. Even Push-Up Pops and Snickers Ice Cream Bars if you feel so inclined. The freezer might not be bottomless, but it sure seems that way.
 
At some point following your third or fourth King Cone, you begin to realize the top-down appeal and boundless amenities offered by K- State are red herrings. Much like your seat at the table for that holiday dinner, as welcoming as things might first appear, it's all a trap. That butter-basted turkey might look delicious, but don't get tricked into asking Uncle Albert about his politics or letting it slip that you prefer cranberry sauce from the can. Similar pitfalls await you in The Little Apple. The hard truth is, at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, visitors are always just one free Fudgsicle away from a brain freeze.
 
An early lead that quiets the crowd is great but suffer a turnover or a special teams breakdown and KSU can quickly flip the narrative. You might force the Wildcats onto their heels and build a wave of momentum, but you're one blown scoring opportunity away from letting it all slip through your fingers.
 
Such was the case on Veteran's Day 2017 when the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers held a tenuous 21-20 lead over K-State in the waning seconds of the first half. After forcing a WVU turnover, the Wildcats lost a few yards and – to the dismay of the crowd -- appeared content in the wet conditions to let their young quarterback watch the clock wind down. But on the next play, K-State curiously attempted a screen pass that West Virginia's Ezekiel Rose intercepted at the Wildcat 30 with just 10 seconds left.
 
It was an ill-advised choice that Bill Snyder would later admit regretting. Seeing the silver fox lapse into such an error was like spotting a unicorn. The Mountaineers needed to cash in on the mistake, but with so little time remaining, and the weather negating any realistic chance at a long-range field goal, the margin for error was slim.
 
Hidden somewhere in that stadium filled with purple rain ponchos, however, was a little old gold and blue magic. No one could have known on that soggy day of tipped passes and turnovers the stage was set for the signature play of Will Grier's debut season at West Virginia … or that he would apologize for making it.
 
The iconic Bill Walsh knew a little something about signal callers and signature plays. Describing the characteristic he most coveted in a quarterback, he wrote this:
"The single trait that separates great quarterbacks from good quarterbacks is the ability to make the great, spontaneous decision, especially at a crucial time … The play that was called has broken down and 22 players are moving in almost unpredictable directions all over the field."

Walsh had a term he used to describe this unique blend of skills - "spontaneous genius" – and if you want a time-capsule-worthy example of it, look no farther than gradeable play No. 40 in the coaches' video of the WVU offense against Kansas State last November, the final play of the first half. 

With the ball on the left hash, the Mountaineers lined up with trips into the boundary and a single receiver – Ka'Raun White -- to the wide side of the field. From the shotgun, Grier took the snap against a four-man Kansas State rush. He offered a glance to White's short curl route before his eyes went left, in the direction of David Sills V who was pushing vertical from the outside slot before breaking on the post. KSU strong safety Denzel Goolsby stayed over top, shadowing Sills V as he cut toward the end zone. In the middle of the field, Gary Jennings Jr. had climbed from the other slot position on an intermediate crossing route, but like Sills V, he was moving into an area of coverage too congested for the quarterback's liking. 

This might've been the point Grier deserted the original hope of hitting a quick throw with enough time to stop the clock for a more manageable field goal attempt, or maybe even for another shot at the end zone. Either way, as soon as he moved from the pocket, or maybe even as soon as he abandoned White's curl route, Grier knew he was off script and there was no turning back. The only option left was 'touchdown or bust.' 

"He (Grier) knew he was in trouble. He knew it. He came to me and apologized and I was like 'well, you don't have to apologize for throwing a touchdown,'" Dana Holgorsen said about the play. "He got forced out of the pocket, and he just got to a point where he knew he was out of time. He looked and he saw something and he threw it and made a play."

Even good players dig themselves into holes. But the great ones find ways to climb out. 

The Wildcat pass rush began to penetrate. Defensive tackle Joe Davies was the first to leak through, flushing Grier to the right. As the quarterback considered that side in hopes of breaking containment, KSU defensive end Bronson Massie broke free to seal him off.

Sensing he was about to get hemmed in, Grier reversed course and broke to his left. This created another problem. The Wildcats end to that side, Reggie Walker, had initially been neutralized by WVU left tackle Yodny Cajuste, but as Grier moved in their direction, Walker saw an opportunity to escape outside Cajuste's blocking radius and fire downhill on a collision course with the Mountaineer signal caller.

With things heating up, Grier was short on time but realized he only needed another beat or two. Despite the chaos, Grier's eyes had remained downfield throughout. As such, Grier was monitoring White, who was tracking on a deep crossing route from the backside of the formation – scramble-drill style – and he knew the senior pass catcher was about to break open in the end zone.

Unable to gather himself to fortify the throw as three K-State pass rushers were closing fast, Grier let the football fly as he faded away from the defenders onto his left foot. Despite the unbalanced nature of Grier's throwing platform, the ball traveled almost exactly 50 yards in the air – from the KSU 44 to six yards deep in the end zone where White hauled it in for the score that proved to be the difference in the game.

What Bill Walsh would've called spontaneous genius, Dana Holgorsen called West Virginia's first-ever win at Kansas State. The touchdown against the Wildcats showcased at least three of Grier's assets: his ability to improvise, his natural arm strength and his adeptness at delivering an accurate throw under disorderly conditions. It's one thing for a QB to paint the edges with accuracy in practice during a midweek pass skeleton drill, it's something else entirely to do the same from an off-balance position amid mayhem.  
But the scope of his talent doesn't stop there. What jumps out perhaps more than anything else as you study Grier is his gift of anticipation.

The angles of the game come naturally to him. Call it quarterback's intuition. Call it instinct or even gridiron clairvoyance. It's the uncanny aptitude for seeing things on a football field unfold before they actually do. Examples of it are peppered throughout Grier's 2017 performances.
 
With the ball at No. 21 Virginia Tech's 10-yard line in the third quarter, the Mountaineers employed a "20" personnel grouping (two backs, zero tight ends), which put three receivers on the field. Two of those, Jennings Jr. and Sills V, lined up to the left of the formation on the wide side.
 
Grier took the snap and rode the football into the belly of Kennedy McKoy on a run action. With the Hokies outnumbering West Virginia in the box, Grier knew he'd be pulling the ball to target the two-man route combination that Sills and Jennings were executing to his left. 
 
Sills V, aligned to the top of the formation against cornerback Adonis Alexander in press coverage, offered a head fake and quick jab-step to the outside before breaking sharply back in at 45 degrees over Jennings Jr., who was zipping toward the boundary. Diagnosing man coverage, Grier recognized that safety Mook Reynolds had committed to running the hump overtop the slant to shadow Jennings Jr. into the flat, leaving open grass in the middle of the field for Sills V to break open.
 
Sills V was only two steps into the slant, heading toward a void that didn't yet exist, when Grier knew where his throw would go. His delivery was perfect. The ball whistled past the ear of blitzing safety Terrell Edmunds (the Pittsburgh Steelers' first-round pick in the NFL Draft this past April), hitting Sills V in stride as he crossed the goal line for the game-tying touchdown.   
 
The play was lethal in its simplicity, accented by Grier's ability to forecast how the angles of what he was seeing would translate into things that had yet to happen. 
 
Grier's father believes it's a gift his son has always wielded.    
 
"As an athlete, in any sport he played, he always had great vision and great anticipation. When he was playing shortstop, he always seemed to be leaning in the direction the ball was hit. He kind of had that knack," Chad Grier, who served as Will's high school football coach, says.

"In basketball, he saw the floor really well. He could jump and shoot, but he was a great passer on the court because he anticipated movement. That really translated well to football for him as a quarterback."

That same ability was on display again in Ft. Worth, Texas against No. 8 TCU last year with West Virginia trailing 17-3 in the third quarter. On third and long against a unit that regularly ranks among the best in the country on transitional downs, the Mountaineers operated at their own 36-yard line from an ace set with two receivers to each side. Off a jet motion fake to Jennings Jr., Grier targeted a two-man route combination to his left that includes a vertical push up the hash by Sills V out of the slot.  

The Horned Frogs parked two safeties up high and deployed one of their patented "Robber" coverages, but this time Sills V stole the getaway car. Three TCU defenders converged on a dig route by the WVU wideout to that side, including free safety Niko Small. Small, who began at a depth of 15 yards to simulate coverage responsibility for the deep half of the field, reacted up to pounce on the dig the instant he saw it. Unfortunately for the Frogs, cornerback Jeff Gladney and defensive back Ridwan Issahaku also swarmed the route, leaving Sills V to slip uncontested down the seam.

It's the kind of mistake a Gary Patterson defense rarely makes – and one that will cost you against Will Grier almost before it even happens. Grier didn't wait for the free safety to commit downhill before making his throw. Instead, the instant he recognized that Small was caught flat-footed and unable to retreat to defend the vertical threat presented by Sills V, Grier released the football – before he had even emerged from the pack of Frogs defenders. His throw caught Sills V in the open and, 64 yards later, the Mountaineers had their first touchdown of the day. 

But Grier's premonitions don't need to end with a musket blast to impact a game. A key moment in the second-biggest comeback in Mountaineer Field history came on third down and nine in the fourth quarter of West Virginia's tilt with No. 24 Texas Tech. Operating from the Red Raider 46 yard-line, WVU trailed 35-24. With the ball on the left hash, the Mountaineers lined up with twins into the short side and a single receiver far right, complemented by two backs next to Grier in the shotgun. 

Texas Tech defensive coordinator David Gibbs hedged his bet against WVU's three-receiver set, sending only two defenders after Grier while dropping nine into coverage. The logic seemed sensible enough. Once so many Red Raiders dropped back to crowd the zones, they could hover at the sticks and choke down any potential windows through which Grier hoped to squeeze the ball.
 
Gibbs also went to lengths to account for the player he figured to be Grier's primary target in such a situation: Sills V. But that added wrinkle created a blemish in the coverage, however briefly, that Grier capitalized on. On the snap, Grier's Spidey sense was already tingling when defensive back Douglas Coleman III buzzed the flat toward Sills V, who was lined up into the boundary. Coleman's job was to work in tandem with the cornerback to bracket Sills inside-out. But when Coleman flew toward Sills the above-mentioned soft spot was exposed by Jennings Jr., who was pushing vertical from the slot position to the same side. 
 
Before Coleman even crossed Jennings Jr. face toward Sills V to create the coverage void – and before another TTU defender could reach the seam to compensate for Coleman's absence -- Grier discerned what was unfolding. In one fluid motion, just as the shotgun snap hit his hands, he secured the threads and fired a dart. The football found Jennings Jr. at the marker for a critical West Virginia first down.
 
This sixth sense behind center is a prominent part of Grier's game. Is it hardwired or is it learned along the way? It might sound like a distinction without a difference to suggest it's probably a little bit of both, but none of this happens without an abundance of preparation.

"I think Will's been preparing to be in this position his whole life honestly. He's been trained to be a starting quarterback. He grew up a coach's kid. He's played an awful lot of football. I think all his preparation started when he was about 6," Holgorsen says. "He played a lot of high school football; he's played a lot of college football; he understands how to prepare."
 
Listen closely to Grier and you start to appreciate the design in all of this. His deep thoughts are as sharp as his deep throws.
 
"I practice mindfulness. I think that the health of your brain is just as important as the health of your body if not more," he says. "So I think it's very important to prepare your brain, prepare your mind, prepare your soul just as much as it is to prepare your physical body."
 
No - Grier isn't reciting the journal of the blind Master Po. Those introspective remarks were Zen-like, sure, but unrehearsed and all his own. 
 
Bill Walsh might even have said they sound like the words of a genius. 
 
A spontaneous one.
 
I'll see you at the 50.