It probably took a little longer than expected, but West Virginia had two rapid-fire selections late in the third round of Friday's NFL Draft taking place in Nashville, Tennessee.
First, quarterback
Will Grier was chosen by the hometown Carolina Panthers with the 100
thoverall pick, and then the guy in charge of protecting his backside,
Yodny Cajuste, heard his name called one spot later when he was drafted by the New England Patriots.
Grier was the fifth quarterback taken in this year's draft and the first Mountaineer signal caller to go since Geno Smith was the 39
thoverall pick in the second round of the 2013 draft by the New York Jets.
Grier completed 67 percent of his 397 pass attempts for 3,864 yards and 37 touchdowns with just eight interceptions in 11 games for the Mountaineers this season.
"Some people complain that he holds on to the ball too long but he's a tough kid, he hangs in there with beautiful deep-ball accuracy," ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. said. "The ability to put the ball in tight corners and the deep-ball accuracy I thought was unmatched in this draft."
"He has a good feel for trajectory on his deep ball," ESPN draft expert Todd McShay added. "What I do like about him, other than the deep ball, is he's very effective against the blitz. He will hang in there and is a gamer."
In 28 career college games that included a six-game stint with Florida in 2015, the Charlotte resident passed for 8,558 yards and 81 touchdowns with 23 interceptions. He threw for 3,490 yards and 34 touchdowns during his junior season at WVU in 2017 before a broken finger on his passing hand during the Texas game ended his season.
Grier finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 2018 and was a second team All-Big 12 choice behind Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray.
He had 300 or more passing yards in 19 of his 22 games at WVU including a career-high 539 yards in a 59-56 shootout loss to Oklahoma in what turned out to be his final game as a Mountaineer.
Grier chose not to play in West Virginia's Camping World Bowl loss to Syracuse to concentrate on the NFL Draft.
"He's really a mature kid who really has his head on straight," remarked Kiper Jr. "He wants to be able to support his family as an NFL quarterback."
Cajuste also didn't play in the Camping World Bowl after getting injured in the Oklahoma game. Once considered a possible first round pick, Cajuste had surgery to repair his quad muscle in March and that kept him from working out for NFL teams and likely dropped him in the draft.
The Miami resident was a Football Writers second team All-American and Big 12 co-offensive lineman of the year. He played 776 snaps before his injury and was the key blocker in a Mountaineer offense that averaged 512.3 yards per game.
Cajuste was the 13
thoffensive tackle taken in this year's draft.
"He's a wide-body, 6-5, 312-pound offensive lineman who has some versatility," McShay opined. "I think he's going to be a better fit at guard in the NFL. Durability I think is one of the reasons he fell to this area. Some teams you talk to really like him, but I think he needs some developing."
"The athletic ability is there and I think some of the inconsistency is because of his inexperience, but he's got the size, he's got the feet and he's got the want-to. I think he's a guy who needs to be coached up and he's going to a team that has always developed offensive linemen," Kiper said. "If you want a raw offensive lineman that is on the come, that's
Yodny Cajuste."
At least four other Mountaineer players are expected to be picked tomorrow when the concluding four rounds get underway at noon.
