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With Howard at QB, WVU Offense a Strong Buy in '16
July 13, 2016 04:23 PM | Football
If West Virginia’s offense was a stock in the S&P 500 it would be rated a strong buy. That’s because all indicators are pointing to an exceptional year for senior quarterback Skyler Howard and the Mountaineers in 2016.
Jed Drenning, former college quarterback and Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG radio sideline reporter, says there are three steps in the developmental process of a college quarterback.
Step one is understanding what you do, schematically, personnel-wise and what your coach wants to accomplish offensively.
“It’s about understanding the nuances of your personnel and developing relationships with them,” Drenning said. “That takes time and that takes reps. That means understanding the mismatches, ‘Hey, I’ve got a guy who is really good against this type of coverage’ or that kind of thing.”
Step two is understanding what the other team is doing against you - what they are going to try and do to you from a coverage standpoint and from a blitz standpoint.
This, of course, takes a little bit more time to master.
“The first time you see blitz X you are going to react to it much differently than the 50th time you see blitz X,” Drenning explained. “The more you see those types of things, the better you are going to be at responding to them.”
Finally, step three is knowing and understanding how step one and step two come together - what you do and your strengths going up against what they do and their weaknesses.
Naturally, all quarterbacks develop at different rates. Some get it sooner than others, but generally speaking, Drenning said it usually takes about three seasons for it all to come together for quarterbacks.
And when Jed talks about seasons, he doesn’t necessarily mean playing seasons.
“When you look at reps, games and starts, all those things play out, not just during seasons, but also the off-seasons as well,” he said. “When you go into a season being ‘the guy’ there is a certain way you carry yourself in the locker room, there is a certain way guys respond to you and there is a certain role you play in the leadership of the team.
“So those off-seasons, to me, are as critical when you are ‘the guy’ and when you know you are ‘the guy’ and that really matters. When this happens you are going to invest a lot of time preparing for what other teams are going to do against you during the off-season. ‘We’ve got a guy good against this’ or ‘I know this team likes to do a lot of this’ and that’s what he is going to spend the off-season preparing for,” Drenning said. “It stands to reason you are going to get a whole lot better at it - not just through the number of starts you have - but going through those off-seasons matter, too.”
Therefore, to Drenning, that could mean a playing season, a spring and another playing season, or, it could mean a spring, a playing season and another spring leading into the next year. That would encompass three seasons in his book.
Well, guess where Skyler Howard is at right now in his developmental stage as a college quarterback?
That’s right, season three.
A thorough scan of the list of West Virginia’s top passing quarterbacks reveals that season three is usually when it all comes together for them.
Sometimes it’s sooner, as was the case with Mike Sherwood during year two in the Mountaineer program as a sophomore in 1968, but typically, year three is when it happens - if it’s going to happen at all.
That’s when the light came on for Geno Smith in 2011, for Pat White in 2006 (he redshirted in 2004), for Marc Bulger in 1998, for Major Harris in 1988 (he redshirted the 1986 season), for Jeff Hostetler in 1983 (he sat out the ‘81 season after transferring from Penn State), for Oliver Luck in 1980 (Luck’s development was delayed somewhat because of a coaching change) and for Bernie Galiffa in 1972 - No.’s 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10 and 12 on the school’s career passing list.
With the exception of Harris and White, the rest of them had roughly 18 games and at least 10 starts under their belts heading into season three.
Skyler Howard?
He is entering his third year in coach Dana Holgorsen’s offense with exactly 17 games and 15 starts in the bank.
Furthermore, his combined year one-two numbers are the best of any Mountaineer quarterback in school history heading into their third season.
Howard has passed for 3,974 yards and 34 touchdowns with just 14 interceptions in his first 17 college appearances, or 859 yards more than Harris passed for in his first two seasons encompassing 24 games (all starts), 902 yards more than Smith passed for in his first two seasons encompassing 18 games, and 1,157 yards more than Bulger passed for in his first two years, which comprised 18 games as well.
Howard’s 34 touchdown passes were nine more than Smith threw during the same span, 13 more than Sherwood threw during the same point in his career and 17 more than Bulger tossed during the same time period.
“After those three phases you are going to see tremendous growth at that position,” Drenning admitted. “Not only did you have the maturation process with Skyler, but you also had Dana as a play caller learning and understanding how best to utilize Skyler’s skill set. That’s why the 2007 Pat White was far more lethal than the 2006 Pat White, or the 2008 Pat White playing in a brand new system, because he had two full years in Rich’s (Rodriguez) offense.”
Having a quarterback with meaningful game/spring experience is one thing, but having a quarterback, a coach and the same offensive system intact for more than a year can make an even bigger difference.
Drenning illustrates this by the eye-catching numbers Holgorsen’s offenses have generated the last three times he’s had a returning quarterback with at least 13 starts under his belt heading into the next year.
It happened with Geno Smith at WVU in 2012, it happened with Case Keenum at Houston in 2009, and it happened with Graham Harrell at Texas Tech in 2007.
“The average of those three seasons is 41 points and 532 yards per game the following year,” Drenning noted. “And this isn’t about being sold on any particular quarterback, this is about Dana Holgorsen getting the optimal version of what he has in his quarterback after that first full year together. Even if Skyler doesn’t elevate West Virginia’s offense to that level, we’re going to see a Skyler Howard that we haven’t seen before.”
And there is one other thing to consider - Howard and starting center Tyler Orlosky have been on the field together for all 17 of those games. That means 17 games worth of seeing the same teams, the same defenses, the same schemes and the same blitzes time after time after time.
During Geno’s monster season in 2012, he obviously had Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey to throw the football to, but he also had Joey Madsen directly in front of him snapping the ball.
And don’t discount for a second just how important that can be to an offense.
“You develop a pretty good bond with your center, even if you are not always lined up taking a snap right underneath him,” Drenning said. “Having that relationship and that trust matters a ton. Even in the gun it matters because you don’t have to worry about where or when the ball is going to arrive because for 17 games it’s always been in the same place.”
Howard’s experience, his willingness to work hard and learn, his tremendous leadership qualities, his strong arm and his playmaking skills, combined with the outstanding weapons Holgorsen has assembled around him, will certainly play a big role in whatever success West Virginia has offensively this fall.
But Drenning believes a potentially dominant offensive line could really tip the scale in West Virginia’s favor in 2016.
“I have great, great confidence in this offensive line,” he said. “When you watched them during the spring, and when Skyler was really at his best, it’s because the O-line was dominant. He was in a comfort zone we hadn’t seen him in because of that.
“I love where this offensive line is, starting with Orlosky at center and working your way out and that to me is always, always, always the most unheralded part of any great offense,” Drenning continued. “It makes the quarterback better, which in turn makes the receivers and the running backs better, and everything works better when that offensive line is where I believe this offensive line is going to be.”
Added all together, it means quarterback Skyler Howard and the West Virginia offense are worth buying in 2016.
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