MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — He was an elite talent, with burst and agility and a few years of playing quarterback under his belt, though not much of that time was spent playing quarterback particularly well.
During the past offseason, coaches were so skeptical of his development they recruited a graduate transfer presumably to take over the offense.
Was it Blake Sims or Trevone Boykin?
Correct.
West Virginia already faced one of the nation’s most surprising quarterbacks, losing to Sims and Alabama in the opener. Now comes Saturday’s encounter against No. 10-ranked TCU, whose offensive transformation under Boykin has brought a purple rain of touchdowns.
Top TD-to-INT differentials in the FBS: | Class | TDs | INT | Ratio |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Marcus Mariota, Oregon | Jr. | 24 | 1 | +23 |
2. Connor Halliday, Wash. State | Sr. | 32 | 10 | +22 |
2. Jared Goff, California | So. | 26 | 4 | +22 |
4. Brandon Doughty, W.Kentucky | Sr. | 24 | 4 | +20 |
5. Trevone Boykin, TCU | Jr. | 21 | 3 | +18 |
5. Cody Kessler, USC | Jr. | 20 | 2 | +18 |
“He’s the most improved player in college football,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said of Boykin, whose future seemed to be at receiver when these teams met in Fort Worth last November. Boykin caught 11 passes worth 100 yards that afternoon, making the most of a positional swap as Casey Pachall took the snaps.
Pachall’s graduation hardly bequeathed the job to Boykin. Instead he was viewed as the second choice to the newly arrived Matt Joeckel, whose two seasons behind Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M provided operational training for the type of spread attack TCU was installing.
Yet it was Boykin who looked most comfortable—and most dangerous—driving the new offense. The success he enjoyed against Samford, Minnesota and SMU to begin the season was encouraging (79-of-123 with eight TDs, one INT and 286 average yards), yet it wasn’t validated until he kept up the pace against Oklahoma, Baylor and Oklahoma State (67-of-124, six TDs, two INTs, 338 yards). Then came last week’s Heisman-launching head-spinner: Throwing for 433 yards and seven touchdowns in an 82-27 flogging of Texas Tech.
Boykin’s longest scoring passes covered 24, 51, 57 and 92 yards—two of those on busted plays where the quarterback avoided rushers before firing deep. West Virginia cornerback Icky Banks said those were eye-openers in the secondary room.
“I’ve seen him running back-and-forth to where I’m thinking, man, somebody’s got to get this guy down,” Banks said. “But that’s going to be our job to lock on (the receivers) and let those guys in front handle chasing him. It’s going to be on us to make sure we don’t get our eyes too far in that backfield while he’s running around.”
Though Boykin hasn’t scored a rushing touchdown since Week 3, he has produced a run of 13 yards or longer in every game this season. The junior carried 22 times in a 37-33 upset of Oklahoma and ran 18 times the next week in a 61-58 loss at Baylor—a mixture of option keepers and scrambles where he victimized out-of-control blitzers.
The Mountaineers’ pass rushers, unleashed through an expanding array of blitzes the past three games, have been lectured on the need to remain disciplined.
“You can’t be as reckless as you want to be,” warned defensive line coach Tom Bradley. “You coach aggressiveness, but there’s a fine line between being aggressive and not being very smart. He makes a lot of people miss.”
That harkens back to the Alabama game, where Sims side-stepped unblocked blitzers five times. One of those misses cost WVU a potential safety, others allowed the Crimson Tide to extend scoring drives.
“I just see a lot of athleticism with him all over the field,” said Banks, who was on the field for Boykin’s biggest freshman highlight in 2012.
That was when Boykin skirted pressure in his end zone and—aided by a safety’s busted coverage—floated the 94-yard touchdown pass to Josh Boyce that pulled TCU even with 1:34 left in regulation. Boykin also threw the do-or-die 2-point pass in overtime that won it 39-38.
Just as the situation changed rapidly at the conclusion of that game in Morgantown, so has Boykin’s career. Such dynamic production led Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury to praise Boykin as not mere the most improved player in the FBS, but the flat-out best.
“Just goes to show you how life changes pretty quickly in the world,” Frogs coach Gary Patterson said. “You just need to hold on and watch, because it’s going to.”