MORGANTOWN -- Al Pacino delivered an iconic line in the movie "Scent of a Woman." Pacino's character said, "I've been around, you know?"
West Virginia's Devin Grant has been around, as he's in his sixth season of college football, with his third stop being in the Mountain State.
Grant transferred to the Mountaineers after spending the last two seasons at Incarnate Word. Before that, he was at Colorado for three years, appearing in 15 games.
The Texas native feels at home now. Grant sits sixth on WVU in tackles with eight and is one of six Mountaineers to have at least one tackle for loss.
"West Virginia was actually one of my dream schools," Grant said. "As soon as they offered me, it was like, 'No doubt.' I wanted to come up here. It's been an amazing journey so far."
Grant recalled that while he was growing up, he'd watch Tavon Austin highlights.
The WVU defensive lineman played offense in high school before making the switch to defense.
According to the WVU football roster, Grant weighs 265 pounds, but he weighed about 240-250 before transferring to WVU.
The tradeoff in losing fat to then gain muscle has been an evident change he's seen since arriving in Morgantown.
"This is an amazing program," Grant said. "The strength staff has done a really good job [with me]. I've gained 10 pounds of muscle, and I lost 10 pounds of fat. This is an amazing strength staff, just making sure my body was able to compete at this level."
Grant has posted four tackles in each of the first two games, though he and the Mountaineers had a tough task last week against Ohio quarterback Parker Navarro.
Grant has reflected on his first two games and how he feels he's done.
The veteran lineman sees highs and lows in his game this season, but he's not content with where his game is leading into Saturday's contest against Pitt.
"My first game, I was productive. This past game, I was a little bit less productive," Grant said. "But I think one thing I harped on that I tried to separate myself with is just doing my job and letting the plays come to me. In that instance, doing the jobs and being technical, I've been really good at [that]. The coaching staff has done a good job with teaching me how to be perfect in my craft."
Grant has learned from a few Mountaineers with experience playing defensive line at West Virginia. Edward Vesterinen and Hammond Russell IV are WVU's most experienced defensive linemen. Eddie Kelly and Nate Gabriel also harbor wisdom.
"When I first got up here, I was kind of nervous, just like getting along with everyone," Grant said. "I transferred in the summer. The defensive line group, we're truly a family. I feel like we see each other a lot here and outside. We try to do dinner and watch film at other people's houses. So [it's] creating that bond that we have ... one of the strongest bonds on the team."
Saturday's contest against WVU's archrival will be something 81 Mountaineer transfers, including Grant, will experience for the first time.
"It's a crazy rivalry," Grant said. "Growing up from Texas, I didn't really hear about a lot of East Coast stuff, but as soon as I stepped down here, just knowing about that Pitt's the rival and that we play them this year, I'm really excited to play in it."
Grant said the Mountaineers are approaching this week a little harder because of the task at hand.
"Our lift was a little bit more intense than usual," Grant said. "Everyone's really excited to play the game."
Grant transferred from Colorado to Incarnate Word in 2023. His last spring in Boulder, Colorado, was Deion Sanders' first as coach of the Buffaloes.
Grant was one of the players cut at Colorado after a season that saw Grant appear in 10 games, with 15 tackles.
"It was really hard for me to transition from that because I loved it there so much, but, at the end of the day, God always has a plan," Grant said. "I'm at my dream school now."
