Morgantown, West Virginia – Grant Wells, the redshirt freshman quarterback for the Marshall Thundering Herd, was dazzling in his debut this weekend against Eastern Kentucky. Marshall beat Eastern Kentucky – West Virginia’s opponent next week – 59-0 and Wells was 16-of-23 passing with his 307 yards.
However, not to take away from his incredible performance, but Wells would be a 3rd, 4th or 5th string quarterback for the Mountaineers. Wells, a Charleston, West Virginia native, attended several camps at West Virginia but the Mountaineers coaching staff never offered him a scholarship. Wells was offered a scholarship by Marshall and Charlotte before he ultimately decided to stay home and play for the Herd.
Make no mistake about it, Wells was sharp in his debut with Marshall, breaking a school record for passing yards in a debut, but Eastern Kentucky’s secondary is weak and Wells took advantage.
While Wells would likely never see the field if he played for the Mountaineers, he will enjoy a very productive career at Marshall. According to NCAA.com’s “Seven things that stood out from the first FBS Saturday of the 2020 season”, “Wells, playing an hour outside of his hometown, didn’t appear jittery before his first game. Instead, he displayed the composure of a multi-year starter.”
Marshall Head Coach Doc Holliday said of his quarterback’s play: “You can’t hardly script it much better than it went.” Although it’s great to see a homegrown player succeeding as a freshman quarterback, it’s important to remember the competition that he will face compared to what West Virginia’s quarterbacks will see in the Big 12. Grant Wells may put up the better, more impressive numbers this season, but he is not the best quarterback in the state of West Virginia.
That title clearly belongs to Jarret Doege.
