The Shotgun/Throwdown (8/24/18): Grier and Sills begin the season in elite company

Welcome, By-Godders, to The Shotgun/Throwdown, WVU’s best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions.

Football

Touted Grier and Sills V Begin Season In Elite Company | West Virginia Athletics
The perception among the national sportswriters is that West Virginia University has two of the top college football players in the country, based on the Associated Press' preseason All-America team revealed earlier this week. Senior quarterback Will Grier and senior wide receiver David Sills V were recognized on this year's AP's preseason All-America team, just the second Mountaineers ever picked, so the history is brief.

Hot Reads: Quarterback’s Intuition | West Virginia Athletics
Life for teams visiting Bill Snyder Family Stadium is kind of like Thanksgiving dinner at the world's worst in-laws. Such was the case on Veteran's Day 2017 when the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers held a tenuous 21-20 lead over K-State in the waning seconds of the first half.

Simms a potential hidden gamebreaker in WVU receiving corps | The Times WV
The forgotten man in the WVU receiving corps may be the most dangerous — speedy Marcus Simms.

Love of the game pushing WVU OT Yodny Cajuste | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Without using Google, name the last Mountaineer offensive tackle chosen in the NFL draft. You get bonus points for the year. Anything?

HERTZEL COLUMN: ‘Nastiness’ is the key piece to the WVU O-line puzzle | The Times WV
If you are old enough to remember the Rubik’s Cube, you also are old enough to know how frustrating it is to try and put together a solvable puzzle to which you don’t have the clue. So it is with Joe Wickline, a veteran coach with a history of success, whose job it is to piece together the Rubik’s Cube that is West Virginia’s offensive line.

HERTZEL COLUMN: Don’t forget about Grier’s backup just in case | The Times WV
When you have a Heisman Trophy candidate in your holster starting at quarterback, the position on a football team that gets the least attention normally is his backup.

WVU football adds two commitments | Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia got a double dose of good news on Thursday, as the Mountaineers added two commitments — two of their biggest thus far — to their 2019 recruiting class

1988 WVU Football Team Was a True Team | West Virginia Athletics
Can it really be 30 years since West Virginia's magical 1988 football season? That was the year the Mountaineers ran the table, beating all of its Eastern rivals - Pitt, Penn State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Syracuse - on the way to a perfect 11-0 regular season record.

West Virginia Athletics

New Campaign Begins Friday Night | West Virginia Athletics
The 58th season of West Virginia University men's soccer commences this weekend at the Aaron Oltsky Memorial Soccer Classic in Charleston, South Carolina.

Mountaineers Open 2018 Season at Home | West Virginia Athletics
In its fourth season under coach Reed Sunahara, the West Virginia University volleyball team opens its 2018 season at the WVU Invitational on Friday, Aug. 24, inside the WVU Coliseum, in Morgantown.

Around the NCAA

2018 college football preview, AS A VIDEO GAME QUEST | SBNation
Your team is probably not Alabama, so here’s how to have fun anyway.

Let’s build college football’s version of the Golden State Warriors | SBNation
No, Alabama alone is not obnoxious enough yet. It’s time to make the Tide truly nauseating by giving them the best thing about your team.

Blue-Chip Ratio 2018: 13 teams have recruited well enough to win a national title | SBNation
Only 10 percent of the 130 teams in FBS have enough talent to win the natty, according to a recent historical benchmark.

Urban Meyer and the disease of unearned loyalty | SBNation
One of the most powerful coaches in sports protected an assistant overrun with red flags. Why?

Are We Sure … That the Cavs Will Bottom Out? | The Ringer
Cleveland may have lost the best player on the planet … again. But unlike in 2010, these Cavs have enough left over to stay relevant in the East.

Ronald Acuña Jr. got his revenge on the Marlins | SBNation
Through Acuña’s imperialism, Miami is now part of Braves Country.

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