AutoZone Liberty Bowl Notebook
December 27, 2014 01:28 PM | General
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| Quarterback Skyler Howard throws a pass during Friday's practice at Memphis University School in Memphis, Tenn. Howard will start for West Virginia against Texas A&M in Monday's AutoZone Liberty Bowl. |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – For West Virginia University quarterback Skyler Howard, the 2014 AutoZone Liberty Bowl has now turned into an audition for the 2015 season.
Yesterday, West Virginia announced that regular quarterback Clint Trickett’s college career is over after he was unable to pass a series of concussion tests earlier this month. Trickett said Friday that he has sustained five concussions over a 14-month period, and some of those he concealed from the WVU athletic training staff.
“In fairness to our training staff they didn’t know,” said Trickett. “I didn’t tell them so that was on me. If they would have known they would have probably been more cautious about it, but I was trying to push through it.”
Trickett was outstanding through the first eight games of the season, passing for more than 300 yards in seven of those games with 17 touchdowns, but then he got banged up in a 31-30 loss to TCU and two games later against Kansas State, he was injured once again.
In came Howard, who engineered a pair of scoring drives and finishing the game by completing 15-of-23 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
“Before we put him in against Kansas State I was concerned,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen of Howard. “We didn’t know how he would react and he handled it well. I think that (performance) gave him a bunch of confidence to where he got better in the Iowa State game.”
Nine days later, Howard got his first career start against the Cyclones and he performed well, completing 21-of-40 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-24 West Virginia victory. Howard also ran for 69 yards – the most rushing yards produced by a Mountaineer quarterback in five years.
Howard, a Fort Worth, Texas resident who previously played at Riverside City (Calif.) College, signed with the Mountaineer last December as an insurance policy in case Trickett didn’t pan out and true freshman quarterback William Crest wasn’t ready.
It turns out Howard was the one who wasn’t ready right away.
“Mentally we didn’t think he was ready. Physically we didn’t think he was ready and we went with William Crest earlier in the year because I thought he was ahead of him,” said Holgorsen.
Howard struggled to grasp Holgorsen’s system last spring and came out of fall camp No. 3 on the depth chart behind Trickett and Crest.
Crest actually saw some action in West Virginia’s blowout victory over Towson but his development has since been slowed by a shoulder injury. In the meantime, Howard kept at it and continued to get better throughout the season.
“The improvements that he’s made in the last two months I’ve never seen it with a quarterback before – not as a true sophomore,” said Holgorsen.
Now, the offense is Howard’s to run against Texas A&M on Monday afternoon.
“He has taken about 90 percent of our reps the entire month anyway,” noted Holgorsen.
Holgorsen said the plan on Monday is to have senior Logan Moore ready if something minor should happen to Howard, such as his helmet popping off or he needs to come off the field for a play or two, but if Howard is sidelined for an extended period of time then junior Paul Millard’s redshirt would be pulled to finish the game.
“We’re going to try and put our best foot forward to win the game,” Holgorsen said.
Briefly:
* The third of four practices here in Memphis is scheduled for today at Memphis University School … The remainder of the WVU travel party arrived in Memphis earlier today, including the cheerleaders and the Pride of West Virginia … The weather here in Memphis today is cloudy and cool with some showers in the area … Rain is also expected for tomorrow before the weather system clears out of the area in time for Monday’s game … The forecast for Monday afternoon is calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s … Yesterday, the team took part in a Liberty Bowl Welcome Party with Texas A&M players and then later that evening watched the two teams watched the Memphis Grizzlies lose to the Houston Rockets in overtime … The general manager of the Grizzlies is Buckhannon native Chris Wallace, a big Mountaineer football fan … All-American wide receiver Kevin White, whose production fell off toward the end of the regular season because of an ankle injury, is fully healed and ready to go for Monday’s game says Holgorsen, “He’s back to where he was. He’s getting on the same page with Skyler, which takes some time as well” … Trickett said Friday his goal is to get into the “family business” of becoming a college football coach, “I really am ready to move on. Even if I couldn’t have played just to get back and practice with the guys because I really wanted to finish it out. In my family we’re big on (finishing what we started) and it’s just unfortunate that I couldn’t be able to do that” … Word was received yesterday that former Mountaineer running back Pete Wood died suddenly in Detroit … Wood, 63, played for Jim Carlen and Bobby Bowden from 1969-71 and was second on the team in rushing in 1970 with 713 yards and five touchdowns … Wood ran for a career-high 214 yards in the ‘70 season opener against Boston College and he finished his Mountaineer career in 1971 with more than 1,700 yards on the ground … In high school, Wood helped Bluefield to a pair of state championships in 1965 and 1967, and he was recently inducted into the Bluefield High School Hall of Fame ... Be sure to check out our second Liberty Bowl Report, presented by BrickStreet Insurance, later this afternoon.
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