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Versatile Crest Brings Variety to WVU Offense
April 12, 2016 01:04 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Seeing quarterback William Crest Jr. out there running around on the football field, sometimes playing quarterback, sometimes playing slot receiver or sometimes playing running back, it brought to mind something former WVU assistant coach Gary Stevens once told me about the value of having players who understand the greater good.
“If you’ve got two players,” he began, “give me the one with intelligence because they understand what you’re talking about. When you talk about (team) goals they understand that. You get a talented kid and he’s dumb, all he understands is ‘give me the ball, give me the ball.’”
Stevens said a player having an awareness of the big picture can be a huge factor in recruiting and important to the overall growth and development of your football program.
“I don’t mean he has to be grade smart, but he has to have the intelligence to understand what the team needs are and what you’re trying to accomplish,” Stevens once explained. “There are some kids that you can talk goals and how you’re going to get there and they don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. All they want to know is how many times are they going to carry the ball?”
Well, Crest is one of those players who gets it.
The former four-star prep standout from Baltimore came to West Virginia with thoughts of being the quarterback of the future for the Mountaineers - perhaps even the next Pat White or Marc Bulger - but he has since pivoted from that notion to doing whatever he can to help the team.
If that means playing quarterback, so be it. If that means playing wide receiver or running back, that’s fine, too.
Good for William. And good for West Virginia.
It was Crest who went to the coaching staff last fall to volunteer to play another position when it became clear that Skyler Howard was getting a firm grip on the starting quarterback job.
“I had to realize this is bigger than me,” Crest said recently. “Playing high school ball, you’re the guy. People are depending on you and that’s what you’re used to. When you go to college you have to realize it’s bigger than just wanting to be the guy.
“Everybody wants to be that guy - that’s why we’re all competing against each other,” he continued. “So, when it comes to a point of having multiple athletes on the team, why not use them? That’s why I volunteered and that’s why I went to coach and and said, ‘why not give it a shot?’”
After all, here is an athletic guy who is 6-feet-2-inches tall, weighs a rock-solid 210 pounds and can run like the wind, so why not use that on the field instead of having him stand on the sidelines and signal in plays as the backup quarterback or hold a clipboard and chart plays?
Besides, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen has had a great track record of finding the right places for his athletic playmakers and then putting them in positions on the field to make plays.
Crest was well aware of what Holgorsen once did with Tavon Austin, moving him from slot receiver to running back right before the Oklahoma game to catch the Sooners completely off guard. Austin ended up rushing for 344 yards and averaging 16.4 yards per carry - a performance that will forever be talked about around here.
It demonstrated Austin’s versatility against an elite opponent and was probably a contributing factor in Austin making a lot of money the following spring when he was drafted in the first round by the Rams.
The creative ways Holgorsen got Austin the football back in 2012 likely played a role in Crest’s decision to sign with West Virginia.
“It was weird because right before that game we were getting ready to play an important (high school) game and we watched highlights on that,” Crest recalled. “Being in high school, you don’t think he was a slot receiver and now they’ve got him at running back. Well, Tavon played running back in high school. I saw it with my own eyes and seeing him do that it’s like, he has that ability so why not use him (that way)? And I think that’s what Coach Holgorsen is doing right now (with some of the athletic players he has on offense). He’s the mastermind behind all of it and I don’t question the mastermind.”
Crest also saw the success Ohio State’s Braxton Miller had moving from quarterback to wide receiver. Miller, once a standout quarterback for the Buckeyes, has since become one of the more intriuging players in this year’s draft because of the versatility he now brings by also playing wide receiver in college.
William Crest Jr. is working at quarterback, slot receiver and running back this spring (Pete Emerson photo).
On a personal level, versatility means value in the eyes of the pro scouts. It can also mean a great deal to the team as well.
“He was playing quarterback and did well - and did phenomenally well - but he turned around and ended up playing wide receiver and he did well with that,” Crest pointed out. “Why not be a game changer? Why not bring a different feel to the game? That’s what I’m trying to do.”
He’s doing it pretty well, too.
Having No. 16 line up right under center, or one player removed from center, or, in the slot or out wide means defenses are going to have know where he’s at at all times.
Are they throwing him the ball?
Is he going to carry it?
Is he going to throw it?
Is he a decoy?
Those are all things the defensive players have to process immediately whenever Crest is on the field.
Even if the ball doesn’t end up in Crest’s hands, just by being out there it puts West Virginia’s offense at an advantage, which is exciting.
“You never know where the ball is going to go because we’ve got so many different people on the field,” Crest said. “We’ve got different athletes. Being on the field (defenses have to ask the question) ‘where is he going? Where is he at?’ No matter who is on the field you’re not sure where the ball is going and that’s going to play a big difference in our offense and that’s the most exciting part about it.”
Crest admits there are still times when things can get overwhelming for him playing positions he’s not totally accustomed to yet. When you’re moving around as much as he has, that takes away from the time he needs to master his craft.
But on the flip side, he’s getting a view of the bigger picture some of his teammates are not getting.
“You do see a different picture of the game,” he said. “Playing inside receiver is different than when I’m playing quarterback. Now that I’ve played inside receiver I know what the inside receiver is seeing when I have a different look. Why? Because I’ve done it. That’s what all of the quarterbacks and wide receivers do. When we miss a pass or we’re not cutting into the route correctly, we come back, talk about it and try and go out there and make it better.”
What Crest pointed out is interesting because Bobby Bowden used to do something similar with his offensive players when he coached at West Virginia.
Bowden would have them line up at different positions and then walk through some of their key plays in order for everyone to get a better understanding of what everyone was doing. That gave the entire unit a clearer view of the big picture and an appreciation for how everything needed to work in unison in order to be successful.
Well, Crest is getting that right now by playing other positions - even if it has become complicated for him at times.
“It does get complicated but you just have to sit down, relax and just breathe and listen,” he said. “God gave you two ears so you have to listen more than you talk. When coaches are up there talking, you listen to what they’re saying and take it all in.”
Whether William Crest Jr. is lining up at quarterback, receiver or running back, he’s becoming a more well-rounded player, he’s giving the Mountaineers another athletic playmaker they can take advantage of in space and it gives opposing defenses a whole lot more to worry about.
Those are all positives.
“You’re helping your team out,” Crest shrugged. “At the end of the day you’re not walking on that field by yourself. Just because I can play multiple positions it doesn’t mean, ‘Okay, it’s William, William, William.’ No, it’s a team thing and I will do anything to help this team.”
With an attitude like that, it’s difficult to see how he won’t.
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