When the WVU Football defense was in the midst of a sack drought earlier this season, it was defensive lineman Devin Grant who finally broke through against TCU on October 25th, sacking quarterback Josh Hoover and ending the drought. Since then, he has made a big play for the Mountaineers defense in every subsequent game, culminating with a sack that meant a little more to the West Virginia pass rusher since came against his former team, the Colorado Buffaloes.
In a game that Grant himself termed a “revenge game”, he was not the only Mountaineer defender making plays in the opponents backfield. Time and time again, Colorado’s offensive plays resulted in either a sack or a tackle for a loss for the Mountaineers. This marked the third consecutive game that the WVU defense has somewhat resembled the pre-drought version of the unit, where this type of play was more of a regular occurrence. Ever since Grant finally got to the quarterback in that TCU contest, WVU has had multiple sacks in each of the past two games.
The performance against Colorado may just be the culmination of that as WVU racked up an incredible 15 tackles for a loss and SEVEN sacks. For Grant, who now has a sack in each of the past three games, his one time getting into the Colorado backfield to bring down Julian Lewis was a full-circle moment for the college football veteran. This is due to him being part of the massive purge of the Buffalos program that Coach Prime conducted when he first took over as the Colorado coach following the 2022 season. That led Grant to Incarnate Word and then to WVU, where he made the most of the opportunity to face his former team.
Grant’s full-circle moment may have also signified a full-circle moment for the WVU defense. From a team known for living in the opponents backfield in the first trio of games this season, to the team that couldn’t find their way into those same backfields in the next handful of games, and all the way back again ever since Grant himself found his way into TCU’s backfield and ended the sack drought.
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