Grier gets shot at OU at long last

It’ll be final game at home for him

West Virginia quarterback Will Grier will finally get his shot at playing Oklahoma.

Grier missed the game last year because of a broken finger and the Mountaineers were blown out in Norman, Okla. The senior will play his final home game Friday and can send No. 12 West Virginia (8-2, 6-2 Big 12) into the Dec. 1 league championship game with a win against the sixth-ranked Sooners (10-1, 7-1).

“It’s all you can ask for,” Grier said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Grier has been mostly solid during an up-and-down season in which he has fallen back from preseason Heisman Trophy chatter. Now he’ll get a chance to outplay one of the Heisman Trophy favorites, Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray.

Both were named Maxwell Award finalists Monday, along with Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa. The award is given to the nation’s top player. Murray also is a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award as the top quarterback.

Grier and Murray started their college careers in the SEC, Grier at Florida and Murray with Texas A&M. Grier left in 2015 after he was suspended for one year for violating the NCAA’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley got to know Grier’s family when Riley was an assistant coach for five seasons at East Carolina and Grier starred under his fathercoach Chad Grier at Davidson Day School near Charlotte.

Grier missed most of the final three games a year ago, then decided to return for his senior year with the bulk of the offense coming back. This season, he’s fourth in Football Bowl Subdivision with 332.5 passing yards per game and is fifth in touchdown passes with 33.

“He’s having a year that I think everybody expected he would have,” Riley said. “I’m really proud of him. He’s smart. He knows where he wants to go with the football. He’s extremely accurate. He knows who his playmakers are. He’s got a good feel for the game.”