Even as quarterback Will Grier announced this week that he’ll transfer to West Virginia, plenty of questions remain about his decision to leave Gainesville.

Suspended one year for testing positive for a banned substance, Grier would’ve been eligible to play again for the Gators halfway through the 2016 season. Instead, after losing an NCAA appeal, he announced that he’d transfer and sit out the ’16 season.

One theory bandied about in Gainesville is that Grier and his dad, Chad Grier, asked for a guarantee that he’d reclaim his starting job as soon as his suspension subsided this fall. Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley even went on the radio recently and called the meeting “acrimonious,” saying “I don’t think there was a real angst in the UF coaching staff” that Grier left.

“(They) wanted guarantees – the father came in there and said, ‘What’s the plan to get Will back in the lineup?’ ” Dooley said, according to GridironNow.com. “(The coaches) were like, ‘There is no plan; he can’t even rep until the seventh week. We’re going forward without him.’

“Florida was kind of taking the approach, ‘What are you thinking? He’s not eligible. You can’t just step in from non-eligibility and be the starter.’”

As always, there are two sides to every story. In an interview with Saturday Down South, Chad Grier said he and his son made no such request in a Dec. 11 meeting with Gators coach Jim McElwain.

From his point of view, Florida seemed eager to move on at the position — and not very interested in making it known to Grier that it hoped he’d return and continue what he started in the first half of the ’15 season. That’s a theory that Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi backed in December.

Chad Grier said he wouldn’t consider promising one of his high school players a starting spot.

“That’s not what happened,” said Grier, who has coached Davidson Day to four North Carolina state titles in five seasons. “I tell kids all the time there’s no guarantees in life. I tell them to win the tiebreakers, put yourself in position to earn it. The last thing in the world I expected was for him to be given anything.”

Contradictory to what has been reported out of Gators camp, Grier said any kind of guarantee is not practical, especially when the player in question would be joining the team midseason.

“I don’t care who you are, what your name is, the best guy’s going to play,” Grier said. “That’s exactly what I would expect a college coach to say, especially one who makes his living based on those decisions. It makes no sense (to ask for a guarantee).”

Will Grier was 5-0 as a starter last year, completing 65.8 percent of his passes, before being suspended 365 days for using a banned substance. He was granted his release in December, committed to West Virginia on Wednesday and although there’s some degree of uncertainty, he should have two years of eligibility remaining, after he sits out 2016. He also considered Ohio State, Miami, Maryland and Oregon.

The Griers’ meeting with McElwain occurred the same night McElwain went to watch Feleipe Franks play in Florida’s 5A state championship game. Chad Grier said the purpose of the meeting was to find out what McElwain and staff had in mind for Will going forward.

“All he was looking for,” said Chad Grier, “was a few minutes for McElwain to reassure him and say, ‘We want you here, you’re a big part of our future.’ However that works out, whatever it is — ‘It’s important you’re a part of our program. We want you here.’ It never got close to that.”

The Griers sensed the program had moved on, and not for the first time. After his suspension was announced Oct. 12, Will Grier returned home for a few days, essentially to regroup and collect his thoughts. Once back in Gainesville, he didn’t participate in any on-campus team activities, though he was permitted by NCAA rules.

“It was not Will’s choice,” said Chad Grier. “He was never pulled back in.”

The word from McElwain was that Grier could return to workouts Jan. 5.

Now, everyone is moving on, something Chad Grier says is probably best for both sides. The Griers have received many encouraging notes and social media posts from Gators fans this week, and he said Will and the family will take great memories with them. But it’s time for a fresh start in the Big 12.

“I think he’s weathered the storm,” said Chad Grier. “I think he’s excited. It’ll be a great thing for him, and I’m excited for him. I think he’s going to do great.”

Reached via text earlier this week, Will Grier confirmed his excitement in playing for the Mountaineers: “Yes! Dub V!” But despite multiple attempts, he did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

For his part, McElwain has insisted the two camps just couldn’t get on the same page about the future.

“Here’s the one thing about that is I think, this is what I don’t think anybody understands, look I will never beg someone to do anything,” McElwain said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “You got to have it in your heart. To be successful at anything in life, it’s got to be a passion, OK.

“And sometimes in life we all maybe look for … hmmm, what to say maybe, uh, sure things, you know, guarantees. There are no guarantees.”

Grier is far from the only SEC quarterback to transfer this offseason, and he’s not the only player whose father got involved.

Whatever the case, both sides are starting fresh. Florida enters its spring game Friday night with Luke Del Rio an unspoken favorite to start the season opener, while newcomers Franks and Kyle Trask vie to become the team’s quarterback of the future.

Saturday Down South editor-in-chief Christopher Smith contributed to this story.