Grier driven to improve
Ex-Gators QB focuses on family, football
Will Grier’s locker at West Virginia isn’t adorned with the traditional memorabilia associated with a football player. The Mountaineers quarterback doesn’t believe in cluttering this up with knick-knacks.
“I’m not really one of those guys. My locker is a business place,” Grier said of the lack of décor. “I keep my locker really neat, which I think is different than most people.”
Grier isn’t obsessivecompulsive, but the senior does like to keep a neat house. He folds his clothes into neat piles, giving him a sense of order and organization. It’s an interesting contrast to the surrounding lockers.
Not what you might expect from a college student, but then again, Grier isn’t your typical college football player.
“I think it’s a mixture of me being the old guy and a family guy,” adds Grier, who is married with a daughter. “We keep the house really clean. Organized and neat is better for me.”
West Virginia offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, who is also a family man, believes the structure in Grier’s life has helped him become an elite player.
“He’s an organized guy, but I think you’ve got to be because he’s got a lot of responsibility,” Spavital said. “From just the quarterback standpoint, I put a lot on the kid. I put a ton on him.
“You have to be organized to be able to handle every situation pretty well.”
Grier, who transferred from Florida after failing an NCAA drug test for use of performance-enhancing drugs, was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year last season after putting together one of the best passing seasons by a West Virginia quarterback in school history.
With a fresh start and arguably his last chance to prove he could play at an elite level, Grier finished with 3,490 passing yards and 34 touchdowns before suffering a season-ending hand injury in the first half of the Mountaineers’ loss to Texas on Nov. 18.
Surgery on the middle finger on his right hand forced him out of the lineup for the final two games: a 59-31 loss to Oklahoma in the regular-season finale and a 30-14 loss to Utah in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
“This is probably the most major thing I’ve dealt with,” said Grier, who returned to action this spring following rehabilitation. “Once they cleared me up and started back throwing, it took a couple of weeks and it felt normal.”
Chris Chugunov took over leading the offense and Grier provided advice to his teammate throughout the process.
“He’s a very selfless person,” Spavital said of Grier. “He was doing whatever he could do to help out our backup quarterback at the time.”
Like Spavital, Grier is the son of a football coach and it’s one of the things that bond the pair.
“The one thing that I probably love the most is that he’s a coach’s kid,” Spavital said. “He just has a good understanding of how everything goes. He’s a great teammate and he understands the importance of being around those guys.
“He has a unique situation: he’s married and he has a baby, but he still has that coach’s kid mentality that he understands the importance of galvanizing the locker room and I think those kids want to play for him.”
This spring has been unlike any other for Grier, who credits the familiarity with the coaching staff as well as the return of teammates like David Sills V and Gary Jennings Jr. for aiding his return to the field.
“It’s been a little different for me than it has been in the past. This is the most focused I’ve been on little things that I’ve ever been in a spring camp as far as just nit-picking things,” Grier said. “It’s not necessarily big-picture stuff. It’s not necessarily about winning or beating a defense as much as it is improving things we need to improve on from last year.”
When asked what his star pupil needed to focus on this spring, Spavital laughed and hazarded a guess.
“Let me guess, see if my conversations have carried off away from me,” he said. “Efficiency is the main thing.”
Sure enough, Spavital’s lessons have made an impression on Grier.
“Trying to be more efficient, trying to get us into more high-percentage plays, trying to learn the entire game,” Grier said. “I’m around the stadium all the time watching film, just trying to learn as much as I can.”
“Will is a very talented kid and he’s a very confident player,” Spavital said of Grier. “He knows he can extend plays and make some of those miraculous plays you see on SportsCenter. He’s hurdling people on fourth down versus Virginia Tech. He’s extending plays at Kansas State by hitting 50-yard touchdowns in the first half. … He’s got that ability but sometimes he gets caught up in it all the time.”
What Spavital and the coaching staff want to see out of Grier is the ability to manage the game better.
“There’s a time to make that play and a time to make the routine play and just be efficient with your reads. It’s good to just get the ball and go and have an understanding when it’s time to make that play,” he added.
Grier threw 12 interceptions, the most in the Big 12 last season, including four in a 50-39 loss to Oklahoma State. He also fumbled six times, two of which were lost.
“I laugh because I say efficiency probably too much. He’s a very polished player and you have to challenge him that way to get him to play at a higher level,” Spavital said.
If anybody can get the most out of Grier, it’s the 32-year-old Spavital, who’s mentored a litany of quarterbacks during the past decade, including Case Keenum, Geno Smith, Johnny Manziel and Davis Webb.
Spavital believes Grier has all the qualities one needs for a successful career in the NFL.
“I know he’s up there with all of those guys. They all had special talents. They’re all different,” Spavital said. “With Will, I think it’s a mixture of all of them. He’s got a fast release, he’s very athletic. He’s not as athletic as Johnny but he’s probably the next best athletic guy I’ve ever had. He’s a good mix of all of them.”
Grier is highly motivated to live up to Spavital’s expectations.
“I’m at work, hopefully to provide for my family,” Grier said. “I’m just excited to get going this year and have a special year.”