MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia remains “pretty comfortable” transfer quarterback Will Grier will be fully cleared for 2017 but doesn’t anticipate an NCAA ruling until July 1, sources told MetroNews.
Formerly the starter at Florida, Grier received a one-year suspension on Oct. 13, 2015, for using a banned over-the-counter supplement. While that penalty would have expired two months ago had Grier remained with the Gators, the NCAA must decide whether the ban was essentially put on hold during his transfer year on the sideline.
Next summer’s decision date is tied to NCAA protocol on waiver requests and follow-up drug testing and “is not a source of alarm,” according to the person close to the situation.
While the Mountaineers’ compliance staff believes Grier will be eligible for next season’s Sept. 2 opener against Virginia Tech, the source stopped short of calling it a slam-dunk case because there isn’t an NCAA precedent for the “Will Grier scenario.”
A former four-star recruit from Davidson, N.C., Grier went 5-0 as an SEC starter and was also recruited by Ohio State during his transfer phase. The frontrunner to replace Skyler Howard in 2017 would have two full seasons of eligibility remaining under the best-case scenario.
“If there’s any sense of fairness left at all with the NCAA, I think he will play all of next season,” said Chad Grier, Will’s father and former coach at Davidson Day School.
“We’re leaving that in God’s hands. Will’s where he’s suppose to be. He’s very happy. Things are going great up there and it’s nice just seeing him happy.”
Chad Grier, who resigned as coach at Davidson Day on Wednesday after a string of four state titles in six seasons, said Dana Holgorsen’s offense is more akin to the system Will operated in high school as opposed to the pro-style attack at Florida.
“I have great confidence in Dana and his staff,” Chad Grier said. “They’ve handled things the right way from the beginning — with how reassuring the folks there were with helping Will through that. They reviewed everything in great detail and gave him some great feedback. I know the folks at West Virginia are going to do the best thing by him.”
