MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia receiver Jordan Thompson had just capped a promising three-touchdown spring game when coach Dana Holgorsen sarcastically reminded reporters that “he had a good game last spring, too.”
The optimism Thompson generated in the 2012 Blue-Gold game didn’t translate into a productive fall. The 5-foot-7 player nicknamed “Squirt” began the regular season as the starter at an inside receiver spot but fell into a backup role after struggling with drops.
So after the sophomore hauled in six catches for 123 yards Saturday, it earned him nothing more than a backhanded compliment from Holgorsen, who proclaimed Thompson “will go down in the history books as the greatest spring-game player of all-time.”
Never mind Saturday’s touchdown grabs of 65, 10 and 24 yards, said Holgorsen, who prefers to see Thompson post those kind of numbers when it counts.
“Until he plays like that in a game, we’re going to call it like it is,” Holgorsen said. “I haven’t seen him play like that in a game yet. Until he does that in a game, we’re not going to talk about it.”
Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson, who coached receivers last season, took the silent treatment even further.
“I’m not going to talk about Jordan, because if I talk about him he’s going to go thinking he’s got it figured out like he always does,” Dawson said. “I wish everybody would not talk about him and just let him be Squirt.
“He had a good day — I’ll give him that. Now he needs to have some good days when there’s an opponent on the field other than ourselves.”