Mountaineer Quarterbacks Showing Improvement

Morgantown, WV – The big question surrounding the West Virginia Football program this season is at the quarterback position. It’s the first time since going into the 2013 season that there has been an open competition for the starting Job.

The annual gold and blue spring game didn’t offer much optimism on who would be the signal caller, but as fall camp has started, there has been major improvement. The biggest difference I’ve seen is the timing between the quarterbacks and receivers, along with accuracy.

“We’re better than we were in the spring.” Said quarterback coach Sean Reagan. “I think they’ve come a long way; I really do. We know what to do now, where in the spring we were still learning what to do. So, we know what to do, now we got to learn how to do what we do and that’s where we got to get better, that’s fundamentally – execution, eye discipline, just all the details, but they’re getting better. The first three days, we improved. The fourth day stayed about consistent. Today, I don’t know if we improved or not until I watch film. It felt like live we took a step back, but we’ll see this afternoon.”

Reagan clarified on why he may think the quarterbacks took a step back.

“It just felt like we struggled a little bit more today than we have the first four days.” Explained Reagan. “And a lot of that has to do with full gear – live situations – bullets flying – we created a little bit of adversity out there, a lot of third downs today. Obviously, everybody knows on offense it’s not the easiest practice to have. That’s just the way I feel, I could be a totally wrong when I check tape.”

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown has stated that one of the quarterbacks will separate themselves from the others and Reagan gave some insight on what will create the separation.

“The main focus we have right now in the quarterback room is making confident, incisive decisions.” Said Reagan. “Whoever does that the best and doesn’t have plays that get you beat, will end up being our quarterback. As long as we don’t beat ourselves at that position, we’ll be fine.”

Reagan went through every quarterback and gave some details on where each quarterback has improved since the spring.

Austin Kendall: “Comfort level is starting to pick up a little bit. Just knowing what to do makes you more comfortable out there and he’s more comfortable as a leader too. He’s good around the guys. I think they follow him well.”

Jack Allison: “He was drifting a lot in the pocket in the spring and he’s gotten better at that. I think it comes out every once in a while. He’s got major arm talent. He’s got to stay disciplined with his eyes. It’s what we talk about day-to-day and to be consistent with it and not have ups and downs as much.”

Trey Lowe: “Trey has come a long way. Trey is a really, really good football player. What Trey has to do is, Trey has to be more confident in himself because he can do it. He can execute the offense he just has to believe in himself.”