MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Dating back to the start of spring practice, Neal Brown has said “when we know, we’ll know” when it comes to who will be West Virginia’s starting quarterback this fall.
Five practices into fall camp, no one knows yet.
“It’s too early,” said quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan. “We’re better than we were in the spring. We know what to do now. We were still learning what to do in the spring. Now we’ve got to learn how to do what we do. We have to better with all the details.”
There is a new addition to the room since spring practice. Bowling Green transfer Jarret Doege has the most playing experience among Mountaineer quarterbacks, starting 17 games in two seasons.
It shows.
“Doege brings confidence to the room. He’s a confident quarterback,” Reagan said. “He started for over a year and he came from a similar offense, so he’s comfortable. As long as he can continue to improve [on] the bad habits that he brought, and he’s done a good job with that, he’s going to be a good player before he leaves here.”
The Mountaineers just can’t count on this year being one where Doege contributes anywhere but the practice field. He has applied for a waiver to play immediately after transferring, and has a case due to his brother Seth being on the old coaching staff that was fired from Bowling Green at the end of last season.
The NCAA’s lack of uniformity in awarding waivers makes it impossible to plan on Doege being available, though.
“We’re trying to give him as many reps as we can to develop him,” Reagan said. “We’ll stay with that all season long. As we get into the season, it will depend on his waiver whether he’s the scout team quarterback or not.”
Austin Kendall, who transferred from Oklahoma with the intent of finally becoming a starter after backing up Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, remains the quarterback doing the most work with the No. 1 offense. But Reagan said Kendall’s on-field performance doesn’t yet match what he brings to the locker room.
“Austin is more comfortable as a leader. He’s good around the guys. They follow him well,” Reagan said. “But we have to stay focused each play. That’s where we’re struggling right now. It’s the hardest position to play in sports. You have to stay focused from one play to the next. You have to have the next-play attitude.”
Jack Allison remains the quarterback must capable of uncorking awe-inspiring deep balls. It is what he does before releasing it that must be worked on this August.
“He was drifting [in the pocket] a lot in the spring,” Reagan said. “He’s got major arm talent. He’s got to stay disciplined with his eyes and have consistency, not be up-and-down as much.”
From a physical tools perspective, redshirt freshman Trey Lowe has impressed in showing he has more than enough arm to match his talent as a runner. But it seems Lowe needs to see in himself what casual observers and coaches are able to.
“Trey is a really, really good football player,” Reagan said. “He has to be more confident in himself. He can do it. He can execute the offense. He just has to believe in himself to get the job done.”
In Tuesday’s practice, it was primarily Allison, Doege and Trent Jackson working with the top offense while Kendall and Lowe worked with the second team.
Apparently it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Looking at it live, I felt like we might have taken a step back,” Reagan said.
He also pointed out that it was designed to be ugly. The offense was put in multiple third-down situations in West Virginia’s fully-padded practice, so the defense was fully prepared to handle the passing game.
“It just felt like we struggled more than the first four days,” Reagan said. “And I don’t know if that has to do with full gear, live situations, bullets flying. We created a lot of third downs out there today. That’s just the way I feel. I could be totally wrong when I [grade] the tape.”