Dwayne Grant-Higgins is a Panther, not a Mountaineer.

That’s all that matters, according to… Dwayne Grant-Higgins is a Panther, not a Mountaineer.

That’s all that matters, according to men’s head soccer coach Joe Luxbacher.

Grant-Higgins, a forward for the men’s soccer team and a member of the track and field squad, transferred from West Virginia to Pitt before the second semester of last year.

And what a relief that was for Grant-Higgins. He is much more comfortable with Pitt, and his teammates agree that he’s better off with the Panthers.

“He’s not quite the Mountaineer type,” sophomore midfielder Tyler Bastianelli said, smiling throughout the whole statement. “[It was a] smart move on his part.”

He comes to Pitt bringing speed and pure athleticism.

He plays and has played it all, from hockey to volleyball. In fact, volleyball was the sport where he received his nickname, “D-Rocket.”

In gym class, when he was in high school, he would jump higher than anyone else and spike the ball with great power. When running track, he wore a T-shirt that had his nickname printed on it.

He transferred to Pitt to participate on the track team, and made the decision to join the soccer team as well. He has already met his first goal as a Panther.

At West Virginia, he registered a hat trick in his second game as a freshman, and went on to have a very productive first year.

In his second year, he hit a speed bump with some injuries, especially of his hamstring. But he has a treatment to take care of that. It involves needles, but it’s not what you’re thinking.

“I’ve gotten plenty of acupuncture on my hamstring,” Grant-Higgins said.

He often chooses this form of rehabilitation whenever his hamstring is bothering him.

Most people think that acupuncture is a new form of healing, but it’s actually been around for more than 5,000 years. The procedure involves several stainless-steel needles placed into the body in certain places. And it works for Grant-Higgins, who is happy the procedure healed his hamstring.

“Without your hamstring, you can’t run fast at all,” he said.

He also uses acupuncture because it interests him career wise.

He’s in his third year of studies and is majoring in exercise science, and plans to go into massage therapy or acupuncture.

But he still has plenty of goals to score and hurdles to jump over.

One obstacle that he can’t jump over or avoid is the fact that he cannot play in the men’s soccer version of the Backyard Brawl this year. Because of complications with the transfer, he is ineligible for that game.

He can’t even sit on the bench for the contest, but you can count on him not missing a second of action.

“I’ll be there watching,” Grant-Higgins said.

He’ll be in the stands cheering his team on. And he, of course, feels that Pitt is a better team. But he backs up his statement with facts.

“The team is more cohesive. We’re a lot better than West Virginia.”

He was scouted by the Mountaineers through his performance in club sporting events. Grant-Higgins, a native of Toronto, would travel with his club teams to the United States to play. Schools began to take notice of his talent at this point, and that’s when the phone began to ring.

He then chose to go to West Virginia, but after the Mountaineers dropped their track and field program, they lost their D-Rocket.

And so they were left with a huge hole in their athletic program — one that cannot be fixed with acupuncture.