WVU Sports Hall of Fame

Inducted: 2016

Written by Bryan Messerly

Grant Wiley, one of only 11 consensus first team All-Americans in Mountaineer football history, is WVU’s all-time leader in tackles (492), tackles for loss (47.5) and solo tackles (288).

A four-year starter at linebacker from 2000-03, Wiley was one of five finalists for the Bronko Nagurki Award in 2003, signifying the top defensive player in the nation. A unanimous All-Big East First Team selection in 2003, Wiley led the nation in forced fumbles (7), was third in tackles per game (12.85) and 11th in solo tackles (7.6).

For his career, Wiley finished with eight interceptions, 17 pass breakups, nine forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries and had 29 career double-figure tackles performances.

The Trappe, Pennsylvania, native was a vital cog in the West Virginia defense, helping the Mountaineers finish with a 7-5 record and victory in the Music City Bowl as a freshman, a 9-4 record and berth in the Continental Tire Bowl as a junior and an 8-5 mark, the Big East Championship and an appearance in the Gator Bowl as a senior.

As a senior in 2003, Wiley earned First Team All-America honors from the Football Writers Association of America, The Sporting News, Associated Press, SI.com, Rivals.com, CSTV and Southern Football Weekly. He earned All-Big East First Team honors as a junior and was the 2000 Big East Rookie of the Year. Wiley had a career-high 18 tackles against Miami. He led the nation with seven forced fumbles and ranked third nationally with 7.6 tackles per game. Wiley finished the year with 167 tackles, 14 tackles for losses and two interceptions.

Wiley forced three fumbles against Cincinnati on Sept. 13, 2003, had 10 solo tackles in four different contests and recorded 2.5 sacks against Idaho on Oct. 7, 2000.

Wiley signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings in 2004 and retired from football due to a shoulder injury.

Following his football career, Wiley has become a creator in New York City. He spent three years at the William Esper Acting Studio. From there Grant has become an associate of TheCollective-NY.org theater and film group and has associate-produced a short film, “Turtleface,” that was accepted to the Soho International Film festival and the Las Vegas film festival in 2016. He also has appearances on “The Inside Amy Schumer” show as well as 2015 summer blockbuster, “Trainwreck.” Some other credits of his include, “Sex and the City: The Movie,” “Limitless,” “The Adjustment Bureau,” “The Wire,” “Lipstick Jungle”, “40,” “Kings,” “Damages” and “All My Children.”

Wiley's passion for music has led him to songwriting, performing vocals and co-producing as electronic fusion duo, G.n'8. As G.n'8, he has created a three-part series of stadium enhancement music for WVU called, "Mountaineer Nation." The original stadium thumper, the dance remix and the dubVstep remix.
Wiley also serves as the Chief of Culture for NYC/WVU based tech start-up, VEEPIO. VEEPIO is a social mobile picture and video monetization platform, allowing content creators to make their pictures and videos interactive and shop-able. VEEPIO has partnered with the WVU Research Corporation and the Biometrics department to hire WVU PhDs and faculty to collaborate on VEEPIO.

Wiley graduated from WVU in 2002 with a Regents Bachelor of Arts degree with a communication emphasis.