Princeton – Princeton quarterback Grant Cochran had a decision to make.
He could either accept a scholarship to go play football at a school that offered money to do so or realize a bigger dream. Playing a position where judgment is crucial he relied on his and got the blessing he hoped for.
Surrounded by friends, teammates and family, Cochran signed his National Letter of Intent Thursday at Princeton Senior High School to continue his football career at West Virginia University as a preferred walk-on.
“For me it’s always been a goal of mine to play for West Virginia,” Cochran said. “It being a preferred walk-on gives me that chance to play up there and prove myself. I’m very thankful for every school that reached out to me and gave me various opportunities but it came down to being able to go up there and give my dream a chance. The hardest part about it was my parents. Was I a bad kid for passing up wherever I could go and get my school paid for? For me I had a good talk with them and they encouraged me to do what I wanted to do because that’s all that matters. They wanted me to follow my dreams and I’m very thankful for that.”
Cochran, who threw for over 8,000 yards and shattered every passing record in program history, finds himself uniquely equipped to learn in Morgantown. He comes from an offensive system in high school that heavily relied on him to make plays with his arm to keep the offense on track.
He believes that experience will help him.
“I think when I go up there they’re going to teach me what I need to know,” Cochran said. “I feel confident in my passing abilities but I look forward to getting faster and being able to run the offense that they want me to run. I’m just going to work hard every day to try and get that change to play and do whatever I can for the team.”
Morgantown isn’t entirely unfamiliar to Cochran and his family. Both of his older siblings went to med school there, though he doesn’t foresee himself taking that same route.
“I want to study business and healthcare administration. I think I skipped the genius trait that they had,” Cochran laughed. “They were both valedictorians here. I’d like to think we’re all successful in our own ways and I’m not a failure. But I’m going to go study business and healthcare administration and try to land a job there in the future. I’m just going to try and go up there, have a fun time playing football and learn what I need to in school.”
While Cochran faces an uphill battle, that’s nothing new. He helped Princeton rise from a one-win program to one that earned three consecutive playoff berths.
“We’ve gone through a lot of adversity here,” Cochran said. “I think that’s helped shaped a lot of kids – not just me – in having to deal with those situations. People overlooked us a lot and we proved time and time again we belonged and I think if I take that mentality to Morgantown it will help me in the future as I battle adversity there.”
