Football season is right around the corner and fans of the WVU football team were able to show enthusiasm for the Mountaineers at the annual Fan Day event.
The Mountaineers are the face of West Virginia on the national scale. With a majority of the WVU football games shown on national television, the student-athletes really are ambassadors for the university and the state of West Virginia.
The players showed off their smiles as they posed for pictures and signed autographs for thousands of fans at the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility on Aug. 13. The large building could barely contain the estimated 2,000 fans who walked through the gates to see the more than 100 uniformed players from every position on the team.
What’s interesting about this year’s WVU football team is that there doesn’t seem to be any standout stars. In year’s past, fans would flock to players like Geno Smith, Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Pat White, Steve Slaton and Owen Schmitt.
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Of course, quarterback Will Grier has potential to be a WVU football legend and Dravon Askew-Henry will be poised for a grand comeback. But they still aren’t at that elite level. Heck, Grier has not seen time in a Mountaineer uniform and he hasn’t played a down of organized football in a few years.
Grier has been hyped up ever since he transferred from the University of Florida to the WVU football team. At Fan Day, it could have been the first opportunity for a lot of fans to meet Grier and see him up close and personal for the first time. He kind of has that Clint Trickett feel to him. However, it will be important for him to establish himself early on to pave the way for his own successful West Virginia career.
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Whether or not Grier will go down as a legend remains to be seen. He may flame out in his first year with the Mountaineers or he may go on to win the Heisman Trophy, which is said to be a possibility.
Still, for one day Grier and his WVU football teammates were stars in the eyes of Mountaineer Nation. Fan Day was the capper to an offseason full of promise. There is plenty of work left to be done before the Mountaineers take on Virginia Tech.
It’s just nice that WVU football fans were able to be a part of it.