WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Skyler Howard tossed three first-half touchdowns and West Virginia’s backup quarterbacks recovered from a flurry of interceptions to lead the offense’s 49-46 win over the defense in Gold-Blue spring game Saturday.
Staged before an estimated 6,000 fans at The Greenbrier Resort, the scrimmage featured a modified scoring system in which the defense earned points for three-and-outs, stopped drives and turnovers.
Leading the first-team offense on seven of the game’s 16 series, Howard’s touchdowns covered 2 yards to Elijah Wellman and 12 yards to Shelton Gibson before Gary Jennings shook free of Nana Kyeremeh for a 69-yarder.
Howard completed 18-of-26 passes for 270 yards and played mostly mistake-free, at least until cornerback Antonio Crawford turned a third-quarter pass in the flat into a pick-six interception.
The other quarterbacks got their mistakes out of the way early.
William Crest’s first two series culminated with interceptions by walk-on safety Shane Commodore, but the sophomore rebounded with a third-quarter 13-yard touchdown to freshman Marcus Simms.
David Sills produced two three-and-outs in the first half, one of which ended with him bobbling a high shotgun snap. But the converted receiver won the game with a final-play 34-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Rogers.
True freshman Cody Saunders, who picked up more reps in the past week while top backup Chris Chugunov rested a sore shoulder, made a splash with 6-of-7 passing for 92 yards. His two scoring passes to Simms covered 29 and 25 yards.
Walk-on Austin Henley threw an interception that backup linebacker Hodari Christian returned 67 yards for a touchdown.
“There’s a lot of different things that go wrong with the second- and third-team stuff,” said coach Dana Holgorsen, sounding most concerned about the miscue that ended Howard’s otherwise-steady day.
“Crawford saw the back leak late and Skyler’s eyes are supposed to go to that back. He threw it and Antonio made a great play on that ball.”
Though Chugunov had taken most of the second-team reps throughout spring, the race for the No. 2 quarterback job will last into August.
“I don’t know,” Holgorsen said. “Chugs can probably sit in the pocket and throw the ball more accurate than anybody. Will has shown some really good things and Chugs has shown some really good things.
“Skyler has solidified himself as a confident, senior quarterback that runs the offense well. You’ve got to get No. 2 and No. 3 ready.”
Tony Gibson’s defense led 46-29 late in the third quarter before surrendering three consecutive touchdown drives.
“If this is Missouri and we played like we did today I wouldn’t be very happy,” Gibson said. “But it’s a practice, and we’ve got eight or nine new guys in there. Our kids bounced back at times and made some big plays.”
Among the receivers, Jennings had a game-high 92 yards on four receptions while Daikiel Shorts caught five for 86. Shelton Gibson finished with 59 yards on four catches, Simms made 52 yards on five grabs and Sills caught three for 50 yards.