MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The perception among the national sportswriters is that West Virginia University has two of the top college football players in the country, based on the Associated Press' preseason All-America team revealed earlier this week.
 
Senior quarterback Will Grier and senior wide receiver David Sills V were recognized on this year's AP's preseason All-America team, just the second Mountaineers ever picked, so the history is brief.
 
But having two on a preseason first team selected by sportswriters from coast to coast is a big deal for the Mountaineers, who have rarely had multiple players this heavily touted heading into a season.
 
Quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiver Tavon Austin earned some preseason All-America recognition back in 2012, both making Sports Illustrated's second team. 
 
Quarterback Pat White and running back Steve Slaton were also lauded heading into the 2006 and 2007 seasons, along with fullback Owen Schmitt in 2007.
 
And a year before that, Slaton and center Dan Mozes made Sports Illustrated's 2006 preseason All-America team and went on to have terrific seasons, Slaton rushing for 1,744 yards and scoring 16 touchdowns to earn consensus All-America honors and finish fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting, and Mozes, his top blocker, also receiving consensus All-America consideration and winning the Rimington Award as the nation's No. 1 center.
 
Getting on Sports Illustrated's preseason All-America team gave Mozes and Slaton the juice they needed to become the first-ever multiple consensus All-Americans in school history. They are among just 11 ever recognized at WVU, and they are also the last.
 
Grier is easily West Virginia's best Heisman Trophy candidate since Major Harris in 1989 with one Las Vegas oddsmaker listing the Charlotte, North Carolina, resident as the nation's fifth-best contender with Arizona's Khalil Tate, the two behind Stanford's Bryce Love, Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa, Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor and Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins.
 
Grier is not higher because the guys listed above him are playing on teams ranked No. 1, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 13 in the preseason poll and outsiders have concerns about No. 17 West Virginia's defense and the Mountaineers' difficult schedule.
 
Yet if Grier and Sills V can perform up to expectations and reality meets perception – and West Virginia can somehow navigate all of the landmines sitting in front of it – then both will be in line for some lofty preseason accolades at the end of the year.
 
It will also mean a very special season could be in store for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
 
Stay tuned!