MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia redshirt freshman quarterback Ford Childress is expected to miss the remainder of the season as he recovers from a torn pectoral muscle, according to two sources close to the program.
“He’s bummed,” said one of the sources.
Childress owned a 1-1 record in two starts this season, the last of which was a 37-0 loss at Maryland on Sept. 21 during which he played through the injury. He has not seen action in West Virginia’s most recent two games, both of which were started by junior transfer Clint Trickett.
Mountaineers head coach Dana Holgorsen and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson have been coy about the status of the quarterbacks competition throughout the fall as Paul Millard, Childress and Trickett took turns leading the offense. For two weeks the staff has labeled Childress day-to-day.
Holgorsen said WVU doctors initially suggested the pectoral injury would heal on its own. The injury became swollen and inflamed during the bye week as Childress took practice reps and “let it rip,” according to Holgorsen.
“We tried to get him back in the fold in practice last week, but it made it worse,” the coach acknowledged Thursday night on his weekly radio show.
Subsequent medical examinations in Childress’s hometown of Houston raised the possibility that the healing process would require the remainder of the season.
“The best thing to do now is put him back on the shelf and see how it goes,” Holgorsen said. “Right now, it could be a week, it could be two or three weeks, it could be three or four weeks. I don’t know.”
The staff has not named a starter for Saturday’s game against No. 16 Texas Tech, but Holgorsen said Trickett and Millard split practice reps this week.