MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For the third time in 16 months, West Virginia received a commitment from a dual-threat quarterback as Skyler Howard of Riverside (Calif.) City College pledged to the Mountaineers on Sunday.
Howard plans to enroll in January and will join four-star prospect William Crest of Baltimore-Dunbar in West Virginia’s 2014 signing class. It appears WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson are committed to recruiting more mobile quarterbacks. Don’t forget that the Mountaineers’ 2013 class included dual-threat quarterback Chavas Rawlins (who promptly transferred to Duquesne and moved to receiver.)
Howard, who began his career last summer as a walk on at Stephen F. Austin before transferring to Riverside during the preseason, will have four years to play three at WVU. He doesn’t own many big-time offers — Northern Colorado and New Mexico State were also in contention—but arm strength and 4.6 speed has Howard drawing interest from Virginia Tech and San Diego State. Riverside coach Tom Craft recently told The Riverside Press-Enterprise he expected Howard will receive offers from Cal and Utah.
“Howard definitely will have every opportunity to compete for the job once he enrolls in January, depending on how he adjusts and translates to the college game,” said senior writer Keenan Cummings of WVSports.com. “He brings some intangibles to the table that is lacking with the current group. His decision-making was excellent this year—he completed nearly 70 percent of his passes.”
JCGridiron.com ranked the 6-foot-tall Howard as its No. 4 dual-threat junior college quarterback in the Class of 2014.
“He is not necessarily a scrambler, but Howard can extend plays with his feet and run the ball when necessary,” Cummings said. “He does a good job getting the football out of his hands to the playmakers around him and, overall, this is a quality add for WVU this late in the process, especially given the early commitment nature of the quarterback position.”