Trent Dilfer is the man everyone knows as the mastermind behind the Elite 11, but he doesn’t do it all by himself.
This week Dilfer is getting help from former Pittsburgh quarterback Yogi Roth, who talked with GatorCountry.com on Sunday about Will Grier. Grier has impressed Roth since day one.
“He came in and crushed the Yoga class,” Roth said. “We came out on the field and come into the meetings every night and he has a different focus about him.”
That focus was noticed by someone who doesn’t have any connections to the quarterbacks but was simply just a guest speaker.
“Last night we had a speaker named Kevin Carroll, he talked about the power of the sport and the power of playing and developing your mindset and making good things happen for yourself,” Roth said. “Kevin called me later last night, probably about four in the morning, and he says, that kid (Will Grier), my god he was dialed in. His focus and energy and being so present in the moment was great. Kevin noticed that and he has no idea who these quarterbacks are. That’s the kind of focus the coaching staff has been talking about.”
Grier plays in a system in high school that allows him to move out of the pocket more than stay in the pocket but Roth says that hasn’t been an issue this weekend.
“He has looked really good,” Roth said. “Before we came out, we pegged a few guys that we though could learn our techniques and all of them have, including Will. Will has grown with the speed of his feet and tying his feet to his eyes, you can tell he is a quick learner. I think you have to have that to play in college.”
With any quarterback, you want them to have great leadership skills and that’s something Roth has seen out of Grier this weekend.
“He has unique leadership skill, he isn’t the loudest guy but he also knows he doesn’t have to be the loudest voice to have the biggest presence,” Roth said. “Time and time again as we talk as coaches in the meeting rooms at 1,2,3 in the morning, Will has this presence about him that he has this little smirk that says, ‘I’m coming, you better look out for me.’ This is a competition to become one of the top 11 guys, and Will knows that.”
Quotes provided by Nick de la Torre