Grier, Cajuste selected late in 3rd round

See, we were under the impression that he had assembled at the very least six potential NFL starters who would make their presence felt in the early rounds of the NFL draft.

Quarterback Will Grier and his chief protector, tackle Yodny Cajuste, were being mentioned as first or second-round selections while Grier’s favorite targets, wide receivers David Sills V and Gary Jennings Jr., and a linebacker in David Long Jr. who would bring a exciting brand of defense to the NFL.

Silly us.

It took 100 picks and all the way until 11:30 p.m. in the third round before the NFL rediscovered WVU and for Grier it couldn’t have been better as the hometown Carolina Panthers announced him as their pick.

And that was followed immediately by the world champion New England Patriots took Cajuste, who currently is healing up from a lat injury.

Grier was the fifth quarterback taken in the draft behind Kyler Murray of Oklahoma, Daniel Jones of Duke, Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State and Drew Lock of Missouri. He was picked ahead of N.C. State’s Ryan Finley, who many had ranked ahead of him.

Still, it was a whole lot of disrespect for WVU and its players.

In Grier’s case, it is somewhat understandable. Not that he didn’t put up numbers and not that he hadn’t been tutored by Holgorsen, who had done some pretty good work as a quarterback coach before becoming WVU’s head coach.

But WVU’s record with quarterbacks throughout draft history was shaky. Their four best quarterbacks had been Major Harris, Pat White, Marc Bulger and Geno Smith and only Bulger of that group put together a distinguished NFL career.

And Grier was probably hurt some by Smith, who had been projected as a first-round pick when he was eligible, fell to the second round and then couldn’t hang on to a starting job.

Both were tutored two years by Holgorsen, Smith before he incorporated a strong running game into his offense and therefore was called upon to throw more often. Both had a pair of outstanding receivers, Smith throwing to Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey while Grier threw to Sills and Jennings.

The numbers:

Smith played 26 games and completed 715 of 1,044 passes, 68.5 percent, for 8,590 yards with 73 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Grier started 22 games — not counting the Texas game in which he was injured — completed 515 of 785 passes for 65.7 percent. He passed for 7,354 yards while throwing 71 TDs and having 20 intercepted.

Certainly, their records screamed NFL but something kept Smith back and certainly that had to enter into the scouting process with Grier.

Now Grier has an NFL home and its right where he was brought up ... in Charlotte, North Carolina.