MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As Clint Trickett weighed his transfer options and pondered life after Florida State, he heard from coaches who assured him of a starting job next season.
“And it was kind of a turnoff,” he said. “You don’t know how much you can trust that.”
What Trickett did trust was the no-B.S. approach of West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen and, of course, the string of 4,000-yard passers Holgorsen has developed. That’s how the former Morgantown boy decided to spend his final two college seasons at WVU.
“Coach didn’t give me a guaranteed starting job and I didn’t want a guaranteed starting job,” Trickett told MetroNews “Sportsline” on Wednesday night. “Coach said he was going to give me a chance to compete and that’s all I could ask for.
“My expectation is to go in there and be able compete.”
The competition begins shortly after Trickett graduates from Florida State on Saturday. He plans to move to Morgantown immediately after taking off the mortar board and will be enrolled at WVU when master’s-degree summer classes begin May 20. By that point, he’ll also be absorbing film of the Mountaineers offense, equipping himself for the onset of 7-on-7 drills as he joins a quarterback race that two weeks ago looked like a two-man duel between Paul Millard and Ford Childress.
Auburn, Trickett’s No. 2 option, offered a chance to play in the almighty SEC for spread-attack guru Gus Malzahn, and South Florida offered him the least imposing quarterback competition. But WVU offered Holgorsen’s hyper-productive offense and, just as essential, a community in which Trickett spent seven years.
“Honestly, it’s kind of hard to say no to home,” he said. “That played a lot into it, but then it really was the best fit for me offensively and football-wise.
“In the back of my mind I wanted it to be West Virginia, but you gave each school a fair chance and you’re like, ‘If it wasn’t home, would this place she I’d want to go?’ It’s just great that West Virginia was the right fit.”
Now comes Trickett’s chance to build upon the mop-up action he saw at FSU and become the latest Holgorsen passing prodigy.
“You go into this and you’re like, ‘This is my second chance but also my last chance at getting it right,'” he said. “My time here at Florida State here was great … but now I get a chance to come home and play for my home state and I’m going to take it.”