Campus Connection: Football Notes
March 09, 2015 01:20 PM | General
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| Crest | Howard |
That’s a question Mountaineer fans will be asking throughout the spring and summer heading into fall training camp.
It would appear junior Skyler Howard has the inside track on the starting job based on his performance at the end of last season against Kansas State, Iowa State and Texas A&M in the 2014 Liberty Bowl, but WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said last month that he is going into the spring with an open mind.
“Skyler did a great job toward the end of the year gaining some experience, which is going to do nothing but get him ahead of everybody else,” Holgorsen said. “But William Crest looks great. Seeing him (in the weight room) he looks phenomenal. He says he’s never felt better so he’s in a good place.
“We’ve got options and we will play ball and see who rises to the top,” added Holgorsen.
Others in the mix include two mid-year enrollees – David Sills V and Chris Chugunov – giving WVU multiple-scholarship quarterbacks on campus for the first time since Holgorsen’s arrival in 2011.
“Believe it or not, in years past we haven’t had more than two (scholarship) quarterbacks on the roster,” he pointed out. “It’s taken up until this point in order to get to that spot. It’s all about competition. If you want guys to get better then they better have somebody to compete against. We have guys on the roster, and I think the guys are going to be eager to compete, especially the young guys.
“The three freshmen … the future is good. We are excited to start pushing some buttons in the film room, and watch how they develop and get them into spring practice so we can watch what they can do football wise,” Holgorsen added.
One guy who won’t be in the mix is senior Paul Millard, who opted to forgo his final year at WVU, Holgorsen announced on Monday.
Whoever wins the starting job will have a new set of receivers to throw to, but they will have a relatively experienced group of blockers up front and a versatile group of running backs to utilize in the backfield.
Defensively, West Virginia appears to be in pretty good shape with the vast majority of its two-deep returning in 2015. Special teams also appear to be in good hands.
Plus, Holgorsen has an excellent track record of developing offensive playmakers, frequently taking relatively unknown players and turning them into ultra-productive college performers.
Who will step up this spring and become the next Kevin White or Mario Alford?
And, who will be the guy in charge of getting them the football?
Stay tuned.
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West Virginia is not the only team in the Big 12 looking to shore up its quarterback situation this spring.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, who hired Lincoln Riley to oversee the Sooner offense, said recently that the quarterback derby is wide open this year despite the return of junior Trevor Knight. Some in Norman believe Baker Mayfield, who played at Texas Tech in 2013 and has experience in a system similar to what Riley plans to run, might wind up being the starter in the fall.
That is something worth keeping an eye on.
Tyrone Swoopes had an up-and-down sophomore campaign at Texas in 2014 and is the top candidate to lead the Longhorns in 2015, but a couple of high-profile youngsters in Jerrod Heard and touted recruit Kai Locksley could make things interesting in Austin this spring.
Keep in mind Strong opted to go with true freshman quarter Teddy Bridgewater when he was at Louisville so he’s not opposed to using younger players under center.
A reliable quarterback might be all Charlie Strong needs to get the Longhorns back near the top of the Big 12 standings.
In Waco, Baylor Coach Art Briles must replace starter Bryce Petty, who threw for nearly 4,000 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2014. Junior Seth Russell appears to be the next guy in the Briles QB assembly line, but don’t discount incoming freshman quarterback Jarrett Stidham – the most highly touted passer to sign with the Bears under Briles.
Oklahoma State and Iowa State have starters returning, but will those guys still be The Guy when the season starts?
Daxx Garman appeared in nine games for the Cowboys in 2014, completing 55 percent of his pass attempts for 2,041 yards and 12 touchdowns, but there has been a lot of chatter that he might be looking to transfer. If he does leave Stillwater, that means sophomore Mason Rudolph, who started the last three games including the Cactus Bowl win over Washington, will be the guy heading into 2015.
Sam Richardson beat out Sam Rohach last year and finished seventh in the Big 12 in passing with an average of 242.6 yards per game, but Rohach is still around and considering how poorly the Cyclones played last year, the guess here is that veteran coach Paul Rhoads will keep all of his options open.
In Manhattan, Kansas State must find a replacement for Jake Walters, who passed for 3,163 yards and 20 touchdowns and also ran for 312 yards and six scores as one of the most versatile players in the Big 12 last season. The most experienced quarterback on the K-State roster is sophomore Joe Hubener, a former walk-on, meaning Bill Snyder may have to pull another rabbit out of the hat - which he’s done many times before.
Over in Lawrence, Michael Cummings is returning for his senior season, but it’s difficult to tell what direction new coach David Beaty will take when he begins evaluating his quarterbacks later this spring. Teams have seen a mixed bag from Kansas quarterbacks in the past and it will be interesting to see what Beaty has in store for the Jayhawk offense in 2015.
That leaves TCU and Texas Tech, which both have established quarterbacks returning.
Many believe TCU has the talent and the depth surrounding outstanding senior quarterback Trevone Boykin to make a run at a national championship in 2015. However, Boykin will be sitting out the final portion of spring drills when he has surgery to repair a broken bone on his non-throwing wrist.
Boykin is expected to be cleared in five weeks and should be 100 percent for voluntary workouts this summer and he will be on the short list for Heisman Trophy consideration in 2015.
Texas Tech’s Davis Webb also had some offseason work done on his non-throwing shoulder but he is expected to participate in spring drills anyway because Coach Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t allowed his quarterbacks to get hit.
Webb led the conference in passing with an average of 317.4 yards per game, but the Red Raiders won just four of 12 games with Webb operating the offense, and sophomore Patrick Mahomes is playing baseball this year so Kingsbury is juggling his spring work to accommodate Mahomes’ baseball schedule.
That is a pretty good indication that Kingsbury wants to keep his options open as well.
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| Wide receiver Kevin White helped himself considerably at last month's NFL combine and is now likely to be a top 5 pick in this year's NFL draft. | |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Wide receiver Tavon Austin was a top-10 pick in 2012 (No. 8), defensive end Bruce Irvin went No. 15 to Seattle in 2012, and cornerback Pacman Jones went No. 6 to the Tennessee Titans in 2005, but it’s been 49 years since the Mountaineers have had a top 5 pick.
That happened back in 1966 when fullback Dick Leftridge went No. 3 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL draft that year, which actually took place on November 27, 1965. Leftridge remains the highest West Virginia University player ever taken in the NFL draft.
Back in the 1960s, the NFL and AFL were competing for top college prospects and that somewhat diluted both drafts when the Steelers opted to take Leftridge.
Atlanta was able to outbid the AFL’s Houston Oilers to secure the services of Texas linebacker Tommy Nobis at No. 1, and then the Los Angeles Rams landed Michigan tackle Tom Mack at the No. 2 spot.
The Steelers originally had their sights set on Minnesota end Aaron Brown at No. 3, only to discover that the Kansas City Chiefs had beaten them to the punch by signing Brown as their top choice in the AFL draft.
It took the Steelers nine hours before finally settling on Leftridge - one of just three offensive players taken among the top 15 picks in the NFL draft that year. The other two were Illinois fullback Jim Grabowski and Massachusetts end Milt Morrin.
No quarterbacks or running backs were selected among the top 15 players and a kicker, Princeton’s Charlie Gogolak, went No. 6 to the Washington Redskins, a clear example of how weak the draft class was that year.
As for Leftridge, he appeared in only four games for the Steelers during the ‘66 season and was released during training camp the following year in 1967.
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