Chad Grier talks son’s recovery, draft decision, upcoming season
Like the majority of fans at Milan Puskar Stadium on Nov. 18, 2017, Will Grier’s father, Chad, thought the Mountaineers had struck first against Texas on Senior Day.
Instead, the run play at the goaline resulted in quarterback Will Grier suffering a gruesome injury to his finger and a broken bone in his hand which sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
Chad did notice that something was wrong from his vantage point in the stadium, but was unaware of the severity of the injury to Will’s finger and assumed he’d be back on the field soon due to Will’s quick pace heading into the locker room.
“Will’s almost notorious for being physically tough,” Grier said. “He kind of deals with stuff pretty well. I’d assumed he’d be back, so I was just watching the game, waiting for him to come back...all I could think was he’s going to pull a Willis Reed. He’s going to come back jogging back down here with a towel over his shoulder and we’re going to go win big.”
After receiving a call, Chad made his way down to the training room where he was informed of Will’s injury.
“It was obviously disappointing for him. Seeing the disappointment on his face, as a dad, it’s tough. He was very resolved to come back better than ever,” Grier said. “It was a freak thing. He’s done that a hundred times without incident and usually scores. I thought the call made sense. I thought it was a play he’s capable of making and usually does make.”
For Will, the injury brought down what could’ve been a promising to end to the season.
“I just know from talking to him every week that he felt confident in beating Texas,” Grier said. He felt like they would go out and shock the world and beat Oklahoma and go to the Big 12 Championship Game. I think he just really believed that all these things were going to happen, so to have it ripped out from under him on such a freak thing...that was the hardest part for me...it was just the anguish and distress on his face.”
According to his father, Will has suffered very little to no injuries on the field throughout his career outside of this past season.
The closest injury Will has suffered in terms of severity to that of this past November came during his first varsity high school football game in 2011.
According to Chad, Will rolled his ankle early on during the game and after finishing the drive with a touchdown pass on the next play, the Grier’s received word from the team’s trainer that the injury was more severe than what it seemed.
“He’s not the kind of kid that shows pain very often, he just kind of deals with it, so you don’t really know,” Grier said. “The trainer came to me and said, ‘In my experience, I think it’s broken, but I can put a tape cast on it and if he can deal with the pain, he can play, so whatever he can tolerate.’”
Will opted to remain playing and the tape cast.
“He went out and ended up throwing for like 450 (yards) and ran for another 120 (yards) and we had this big win,” Grier said. “Come to find out that he had a third degree high and low ankle sprain. It’d been better off had it been broken.
According to Chad, Will was unable to walk and had to use a wheelchair around school, but he still never missed a game during his impressive sophomore campaign.
“It was one of those deals where most kids would’ve been out for most of the season really because it takes forever for things to heal and he just kept playing through, playing through it,” Grier said.
Although Will was unable to play through the injuries he suffered against Texas, from Chad’s perspective, the program’s family-like atmosphere from day one was one of the key components in helping his son recover from his latest injury as well as his strong mentality and competitiveness.
“He got hurt and he had nothing but love and support from his coaches, his teammates, his staff, the trainers,” Grier said. “From the day he got here, everybody at West Virginia has treated him like their own and (it’s) very much a family feel. I think it just gives him more energy and motivation to get through everything and do his best.”
After West Virginia fell to Utah in the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl and finished the season with a 7-6 record. A decision loomed for Will on whether to return for his final college season or pursue an NFL career.
According to Chad and for Will to stay focused on the season, Will waited to consider his options following the conclusion of his redshirt junior year and ultimately decided to return for his final college season along with teammate and Biletnikoff Award finalist, David Sills.
“We were able to gather a lot of information and just felt like the opportunity was there to go, but the opportunity to come back and accomplish some great things in school at West Virginia and then to even further improve his draft stock I think ultimately made the most sense.”
Will had begun to catch the eye of NFL scouts near the midway point of last season, but his progress halted due to his injury which also brought down his draft stock.
Chad believed that Will would’ve been drafted somewhere between the second and fourth rounds of this year’s NFL Draft had he declared, but said Will’s decision didn’t center around how fast he could get to the NFL, but rather tending to unfinished business.
“I don’t think there was any chance last year, especially with the injury (that) he’d would’ve been a first round guy,” Grier said. “I think that he’s got a realistic shot at being a first round guy this year, but the only way that happens is as he continues to talk about, he’s gotta win games. We can win games and continue to play at the level that he’s being coached to play at, that’ll take care of itself.”
The Mountaineers could’ve been in a very different position for this upcoming season had players like Will Grier, offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste and Sills had declared for the NFL Draft, but Chad believes they saw what the big picture could look like if they decided to return to West Virginia.
“I think that was part of him wanting to come back. He just wanted to finish what he and his teammates had started,” Grier said. “There’s a really good chemistry and culture there with those guys and I think Yodny (Cajuste) could’ve gone, Gary (Jennings) could’ve gone, David (Sills) could’ve gone. They could’ve lost a lot and I think together they felt like there was just something special there that’d be a really fun to accomplish and in doing so, just improve each of their own futures individually.”
As Will returned to the field this past spring and the starting quarterback position, Chad has noticed a change in both his mental and physical states since last season as the Mountaineers prepare to meet this season’s high expectations with multiple starters and playmakers returning on all three sides of the ball.
“Mentally, physically, he’s in as good of place I’ve ever seen,” Grier said. “I was proud of the way he handled the injury…he’s always been a motivated, hypercompetitive kid… he enjoys training. He enjoys all that goes into being able to expect success. Coming off the injury, I think it just was more motivation, more fuel for him to train even harder.”
After and up-and-down three years that saw Will rise to stardom at Florida, get suspended after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, transfer to West Virginia and suffer a season-ending injury last year, Chad believes everything that has happened has only helped his son grow and this season is the chance for Will to show that.
“He came to West Virginia with a very mature mindset that this was business for him, it wasn’t just college, Grier said. “He came here to really be the best he could be as a football player and continue to grow as a young man. With the help of the coaches and the staff and really the people of West Virginia, I think he’s accomplished both of those things in a great way and I think this year could be the pinnacle of all that.”
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