Davidson Day quarterback Will Grier has been named to the MaxPreps sophomore All-America team, along with Marvin Ridge kicker Tyler Cochran.
Grier, 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, threw for 3,785 yards and 49 TDs last season. He was named to the Observer's All-Mecklenburg football team last month.
Below are two stories I wrote about Grier last fall. The first was early in the year as he began to break county passing records. The second was after watching him play state power Charlotte Latin towards the end of the year:
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DAVIDSON Two years ago, Davidson Day quarterback Will Grier attended Georgia Bulldogs coach Mark Richt's summer football camp.
Grier recalls Richt saying to him: "One day, you're going to be a Division I prospect."
Turns out, Richt was right.
Georgia, Clemson, Duke and Virginia are among the schools showing the most interest in Grier, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound sophomore.
Grier's father Chad - who backed up quarterback Jeff Blake at East Carolina in the late '80s when Richt was offensive coordinator - is his son's head coach at Davidson Day.
Coach Grier, who played high school quarterback at Charlotte Latin, said Florida coaches mailed him a blank DVD this week, asking him to send it back with film of his son.
"He's a three-sport athlete," coach Grier said. "It comes very naturally to him. At 3 years old, he could make shots on a 10-foot basket. Anything to do with a ball, he loved it. And he's very focused and passionate.
"We would go to Charlotte Hornets (NBA) games and they're down 40 and he didn't want to leave. I'd take him to Panthers games and he would watch intently until he fell asleep about the third quarter."
Today at 16, Grier has led Davidson Day (3-0) to an unbeaten record heading into tonight's game with
Village Christian School at Johnson C. Smith University. This is Davidson Day's first year of varsity football. There are 26 players and one senior. Last year, as a junior-varsity team, the Patriots were unbeaten and beat junior varsity teams from Rock Hill South Pointe, Winston-Salem Carver, Charlotte Latin and Charlotte Country Day, coach Grier said.
This season, Davidson Day has beaten Harrell's Christian 61-29, Trinity Christian 62-34 and Camden Military 40-7. The offense employs up to five receivers and averages 35 pass plays and 15 running plays.
In those three games, Grier, who hasn't been sacked, has completed 68-of-98 passes (69 percent) for 1,142 yards and 17 touchdowns. He's thrown two interceptions and has rushed 15 times for 197 yards and a score.
Against Trinity Christian, he completed 26-of-35 passes for 478 yards and six touchdowns. The single-game yardage ranks fifth all-time in Mecklenburg County.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised," said Grier, who carries a 3.78 grade-point average in advanced-level coursework. "I always expect to do well. I work hard in the offseason and I trust my guys. It's my job to get them the ball and they help me out as far as yards after the catch."
Grier used to be fond of playing the guitar and his iPod carries an eclectic mix, including Run-DMC, Christian rap artist LeCrae, some AC/DC and some John Lennon.
"John Lennon from the Beatles is my favorite (music) person of all-time," he said. "And I even like classical music. I listen to it before games. It calms me down."
Grier also plays basketball. He started last season as a freshman for Davidson Day's varsity, which finished 22-10 and reached the second round of the N.C. 1A Independent Schools playoffs. In baseball last season, he was a catcher and among the area's leading hitters at .678.
"I think with Will, he's always been able to throw and run," coach Grier said. "Then last year in basketball, he started dunking and doing 360s and there were people making videos of him doing it. I'm going, 'I don't know who your real daddy is, but he must've been one heckuva an athlete.'
"I mean where is this sudden burst of athleticism coming from? He can grow a full beard. He's just started doing things I'm shocked by."
The younger Grier doesn't seem fazed by any of it. He said he dreams of playing quarterback in college but remains undecided on a school.
"I'm wide open as far as that," he said. "But I'm really, really focused on winning a state championship right now. That's the most important thing."
Grier recalls Richt saying to him: "One day, you're going to be a Division I prospect."
Turns out, Richt was right.
Georgia, Clemson, Duke and Virginia are among the schools showing the most interest in Grier, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound sophomore.
Grier's father Chad - who backed up quarterback Jeff Blake at East Carolina in the late '80s when Richt was offensive coordinator - is his son's head coach at Davidson Day.
Coach Grier, who played high school quarterback at Charlotte Latin, said Florida coaches mailed him a blank DVD this week, asking him to send it back with film of his son.
"He's a three-sport athlete," coach Grier said. "It comes very naturally to him. At 3 years old, he could make shots on a 10-foot basket. Anything to do with a ball, he loved it. And he's very focused and passionate.
"We would go to Charlotte Hornets (NBA) games and they're down 40 and he didn't want to leave. I'd take him to Panthers games and he would watch intently until he fell asleep about the third quarter."
Today at 16, Grier has led Davidson Day (3-0) to an unbeaten record heading into tonight's game with
Village Christian School at Johnson C. Smith University. This is Davidson Day's first year of varsity football. There are 26 players and one senior. Last year, as a junior-varsity team, the Patriots were unbeaten and beat junior varsity teams from Rock Hill South Pointe, Winston-Salem Carver, Charlotte Latin and Charlotte Country Day, coach Grier said.
This season, Davidson Day has beaten Harrell's Christian 61-29, Trinity Christian 62-34 and Camden Military 40-7. The offense employs up to five receivers and averages 35 pass plays and 15 running plays.
In those three games, Grier, who hasn't been sacked, has completed 68-of-98 passes (69 percent) for 1,142 yards and 17 touchdowns. He's thrown two interceptions and has rushed 15 times for 197 yards and a score.
Against Trinity Christian, he completed 26-of-35 passes for 478 yards and six touchdowns. The single-game yardage ranks fifth all-time in Mecklenburg County.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised," said Grier, who carries a 3.78 grade-point average in advanced-level coursework. "I always expect to do well. I work hard in the offseason and I trust my guys. It's my job to get them the ball and they help me out as far as yards after the catch."
Grier used to be fond of playing the guitar and his iPod carries an eclectic mix, including Run-DMC, Christian rap artist LeCrae, some AC/DC and some John Lennon.
"John Lennon from the Beatles is my favorite (music) person of all-time," he said. "And I even like classical music. I listen to it before games. It calms me down."
Grier also plays basketball. He started last season as a freshman for Davidson Day's varsity, which finished 22-10 and reached the second round of the N.C. 1A Independent Schools playoffs. In baseball last season, he was a catcher and among the area's leading hitters at .678.
"I think with Will, he's always been able to throw and run," coach Grier said. "Then last year in basketball, he started dunking and doing 360s and there were people making videos of him doing it. I'm going, 'I don't know who your real daddy is, but he must've been one heckuva an athlete.'
"I mean where is this sudden burst of athleticism coming from? He can grow a full beard. He's just started doing things I'm shocked by."
The younger Grier doesn't seem fazed by any of it. He said he dreams of playing quarterback in college but remains undecided on a school.
"I'm wide open as far as that," he said. "But I'm really, really focused on winning a state championship right now. That's the most important thing."
Langston Wertz Jr: 704-612-9716; twitter.com/langstonwertzjr; facebook.com/langstonwertzjr; charlotteobserver.com/preps
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In his first eight games, Davidson Day sophomore quarterback Will Grier threw for 2,762 yards and 41 touchdowns. Only 45 players in the history of N.C. high school football have thrown for more yards, and each of their seasons lasted several games longer.
But Davidson Day hadn't played too many teams you had ever heard of before. And that's probably the right thing to do, considering this is a team with only three seniors playing its first year of varsity football. Still, the general thinking was that - despite serious college interest from schools like Clemson, Duke, Florida, Georgia and Virginia - Grier was simply beating up on lightweight competition.
The Patriots stepped up to the major leagues of private school ball Friday night, playing at state power Charlotte Latin. They're not ready yet. Latin dominated the line of scrimmage and quarterback
Grayson Foster dominated the Hawks' easy-as-it-sounds 49-20 win.
Foster threw for 171 yards and three touchdowns. He ran for another. Tailback Brian Mittl ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass. And the Hawks just didn't give Grier much of a chance.
Latin (7-2) ran 59 plays. Davidson Day (8-1) ran 43, including seven on a final scoring drive against the Hawks' second teamers. Latin pressured Grier early and he never had time to throw.
Grier completed his first pass with his team down 7-0 early in the first quarter. He completed his second with eight minutes, 40 seconds to play in the first half, his team down by 21.
But I could see enough during the limited action he got to understand why he's getting the heavy college attention. Grier is 6-foot-3 and nearly 200 pounds. He's just 16. He's elusive, quick and throws as well on the run as any quarterback I've seen in awhile. He's also resilient.
He suffered through the heavy pressure and five drops and finished with a season-low 145 yards passing on 13-of-24 attempts. He rushed for 140 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns.
The thing that was impressive was this: Grier never got down on himself or his teammates.
A couple times, he eluded two or three Latin players, who looked to have sure sacks, only to sneak out and make positive runs or make quick passes to teammates. A few times he looked left, to move the Latin safeties, and then took two steps forward to elude the rush, while raising back to throw darts to a suddenly open receiver.
I wrote in my notebook the word "savvy" quite a few times. I wrote in my notebook "fast" a few times.
I also couldn't help but wonder what he might look like playing other high major-college recruits at places like Independence or Mallard Creek or Butler.
But Davidson Day hadn't played too many teams you had ever heard of before. And that's probably the right thing to do, considering this is a team with only three seniors playing its first year of varsity football. Still, the general thinking was that - despite serious college interest from schools like Clemson, Duke, Florida, Georgia and Virginia - Grier was simply beating up on lightweight competition.
The Patriots stepped up to the major leagues of private school ball Friday night, playing at state power Charlotte Latin. They're not ready yet. Latin dominated the line of scrimmage and quarterback
Grayson Foster dominated the Hawks' easy-as-it-sounds 49-20 win.
Foster threw for 171 yards and three touchdowns. He ran for another. Tailback Brian Mittl ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass. And the Hawks just didn't give Grier much of a chance.
Latin (7-2) ran 59 plays. Davidson Day (8-1) ran 43, including seven on a final scoring drive against the Hawks' second teamers. Latin pressured Grier early and he never had time to throw.
Grier completed his first pass with his team down 7-0 early in the first quarter. He completed his second with eight minutes, 40 seconds to play in the first half, his team down by 21.
But I could see enough during the limited action he got to understand why he's getting the heavy college attention. Grier is 6-foot-3 and nearly 200 pounds. He's just 16. He's elusive, quick and throws as well on the run as any quarterback I've seen in awhile. He's also resilient.
He suffered through the heavy pressure and five drops and finished with a season-low 145 yards passing on 13-of-24 attempts. He rushed for 140 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns.
The thing that was impressive was this: Grier never got down on himself or his teammates.
A couple times, he eluded two or three Latin players, who looked to have sure sacks, only to sneak out and make positive runs or make quick passes to teammates. A few times he looked left, to move the Latin safeties, and then took two steps forward to elude the rush, while raising back to throw darts to a suddenly open receiver.
I wrote in my notebook the word "savvy" quite a few times. I wrote in my notebook "fast" a few times.
I also couldn't help but wonder what he might look like playing other high major-college recruits at places like Independence or Mallard Creek or Butler.
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