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Homecoming for Grier in non-conference schedule

Grier will have two out of conference games in his home state.
Grier will have two out of conference games in his home state.

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West Virginia quarterback Will Grier has a unique situation when the Mountaineers open the season this fall inside Bank America Stadium Sept. 1 against Tennessee.

That matchup will serve as a homecoming of sorts.

Grier played his high school football at Davidson Day School, in the shadow of Charlotte’s professional football stadium only about 20-miles away.

There Grier was named the Parade National Player of the Year while tossing for 4,989 yards and a national-best 77-touchdowns in his senior season.

Now, a senior at the college level Grier will open the season where it all began for him.

“That’ll be a cool deal with the Charlotte game,” Grier said. “I grew up watching Panthers games and obviously it’s just a really cool opportunity.”

West Virginia has made a concentrated effort to recruiting North Carolina and especially the Charlotte area in recent recruiting classes and this game should only help showcase the program. Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital has made the state a priority during the evaluation periods and some of the coaches have made it clear that there will be a renewed effort there to mine talent.

That will be especially true with the Charlotte native son Grier leading the Mountaineers explosive offense and all the hype surrounding the program as the season nears.

It’s quite the added reward for Grier who contemplated a possible early exit to the NFL after tossing for 3,490 yards and 34 touchdowns in just over ten games for West Virginia but elected to return. That gives the Mountaineers a veteran offensive unit with its leader back as well.

“It’s set up pretty cool for a guy like Will Grier to be able to come to his hometown to be able to play in front of his fans,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

West Virginia has attempted to schedule non-conference games of the regional variety and both of those fit that criteria allowing the fan base to navigate their way to those games instead of the longer trips required in the Big 12 Conference slate. It just happened to work out for Grier.

The schedule doesn’t just stop there either as two weeks later the Mountaineers will travel back to the Tar Heel State into the Research Triangle for a matchup against N.C. State.

And it should come as no surprise that Grier has ties there as well making the out of conference slate even more appealing.

“I have family in Raleigh so that’s a really cool deal for me,” he said. “Those are a couple fun non-conference games and we’re really looking forward to it.”

But regardless of the pomp and circumstance prior to the games with family and friends in the stands, Grier understands that once the ball is kicked off they’ll be no different than the remaining 10 on the slate. There is only one goal and that is to come out with a win.

“1-0 is the goal. I’m focused on Tennessee and trying to go 1-0 each week,” he said.

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