Howard-Main-61515.jpg
Football Notebook: Offensive Balance
July 08, 2015 10:36 AM | Football
It was after one practice at The Greenbrier this past spring when Coach Dana Holgorsen said Skyler Howard was his guy at quarterback.
The junior-to-be performed well in season-ending games against Kansas State and Iowa State, and then once again against Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl, but can he be the guy West Virginia fans can count on to lift the Mountaineers beyond the middle of the pack in the Big 12 this season?
Can he operate the offense the way Holgorsen wants his quarterback to run things?
Will he have enough help on the outside at wide receiver to give the Mountaineers the type of balanced offensive attack they have grown to expect under Holgorsen, now beginning his fifth season in Morgantown?
Those questions can only be answered when the games begin in September. In the meantime, there are a few things we do know about Howard’s supporting cast.
One, West Virginia has a pair of proven runners in Rushel Shell and Wendell Smallwood, who combined to rush for 1,510 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2014, as well as an emerging force in 6-foot-1, 224-pound redshirt freshman running back Donte Thomas-Williams, who showed in the spring he deserves a much closer look when camp begins next month.
Two, West Virginia has a pretty good collection of physical blockers up front led by experienced players Tyler Orlosky, Adam Pankey and Marquis Lucas. This group also received a boost when Michigan transfer Kyle Bosch was recently given the green light from the NCAA to play immediately.
Having capable runners and a big, physical offensive line in front of Howard should give him enough support to help him grow in Holgorsen’s offense, at least that was Lucas’ line of thinking when he met with the media in late June.
“With Rushel Shell and Wendell Smallwood those are two really, really good backs and, of course, the run game is going to be there for us,” Lucas noted.
The question is: Will the gun-slinging Howard show enough patience to stick with it?
Clearly Holgorsen’s teams have developed a reputation for throwing the football, but go back and research what they have done since his days at Houston and you will also discover they can run the ball effectively, too.
Each year since 2008, a Holgorsen offense has produced at least one 200-yard rushing game, including an impressive five when he had dynamic running back Kendall Hunter to give the football to when he was calling the plays at Oklahoma State in 2010.
More to the point, last year, despite having two of the most explosive playmakers in the country in wide receivers Kevin White and Mario Alford (both now in the NFL), Holgorsen’s run game was able to churn out an average of 182.8 yards per contest.
Six times in 2014 West Virginia managed to rush for more than 200 yards in a game, including a season-high 285 in the regular season finale at Iowa State. That’s nothing to sneeze at when considering this year’s team, particularly knowing what Tony Gibson has returning on defense to go with a pair of proven kickers.
It’s obvious there are many facets to Holgorsen’s “Air Raid” attack, including a lethal ground component, and that is something Howard would be wise not to sleep on this fall.
“The Big 12 is a passing league but if you have the ability to run the ball, which we will have, it does nothing but set you over the top and put you into a good spot,” said Lucas.
If you can run the ball in those windy conditions that sometimes occur out on the the Great Plains, or during those chilly November afternoons in Ames, Lawrence, Manhattan or, yes, Morgantown, then weather conditions become a moot point. A reliable ground game is an offense’s best antidote for any of that.
Last spring, Orlosky admitted after one practice there were times during team scrimmages he wished Howard had checked into a run or stuck with the running play that was called.
That’s not really unusual, though, because there isn’t an offensive lineman playing college football today who doesn’t want to run the football most of the time and there isn’t a quarterback playing college football today who doesn’t want to throw the ball down the field most of the time.
Of course, the secret is ultimately getting into the right play – whether it’s a run or a pass - and Holgorsen’s system is designed to do precisely that if the players are seeing what they are supposed to be seeing.
“We still butt heads at times,” Orlosky admitted earlier this spring. “Usually if he checks it he sees a pass and if I check it I see a run, but it’s up to him and he usually gets what he wants.”
“We’re seeing some things and some fronts and things look sweet to us and we want to attack it and go after it, but Skyler might see something different downfield,” added Lucas. “Skyler runs the offense and what he says goes. Even if we feel like he shouldn’t check out of certain situations that he does we’ve got to live with it. That’s our QB and that’s the choice he made so we’ve got to back him.”
Having an effective, well-balanced offense entails a lot of things. You’ve got to have talent, experience and depth, among other things, for sure. But you’ve also got to have players who are capable of capitalizing on what the defense allows because all defenses have vulnerabilities.
That is what it means when the players repeatedly say that they need to “get on the same page.”
And that is what West Virginia will be striving to do when fall camp gets underway less than a month from now.
Gold-Blue Spring Festival Fan Recap
Sunday, April 19
John Neider | April 18
Saturday, April 18
Coach Zac Alley | April 18
Saturday, April 18
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 18
Saturday, April 18
