Jarret Doege is more confident in his role as the West Virginia quarterback.

It’s been obvious from watching him throw the football at the open practice sessions in fall camp, but he doesn’t shy away from discussing the topic either.

“I’m throwing the ball well. I’m feeling confident in my ability to throw it downfield and my receivers as well,” he said. “It’s really all the hard work we’ve put in. We’ve put in a lot of hours just throwing and catching over the summer. It’s earned reps and it’s through hard work.”

That took a lot of looking in the mirror and focusing on what needed to change in his skill set. He was able to break down his game and get back to the basics by learning how to extend plays in the pocket, place the ball with confidence down the field and understanding situational football.

The West Virginia quarterback completed only 18 of 60 pass attempts over 20+ yards last season and finding that more consistent and dynamic element in the passing game was one of the primary items on his check list heading into the off-season. That meant an extensive film study of the issue.

Then came trusting himself once the bullets start flying. It’s something that was certainly on display when he dropped two perfect passes in for touchdowns in the first open practice of fall camp. Both throws were 30-plus yards down the field and Doege hit both in stride.

“I think I’m just going through my reads and making a good decision but at times you can be more aggressive and that’s what I’ve been doing over the summer and do this fall camp is be more aggressive and take more shots down the field,” he said.

Some of that improvement can be attributed to the effort that Doege has put into the weight room in becoming stronger. He has cut his body-fat down to under 10-percent after playing at 20-percent last season in that department.

“Getting stronger in my legs and my core. I’ve always been able to have a decent spiral on the ball and I’ve always been able to have more spin than a lot of quarterbacks I’ve thrown with. The spin has always been there; the velocity has gotten a lot better,” Doege said.

He also believes that having a normal off-season where he could work with all of the receivers also played a critical role in preparing him to take the next step.

Pocket presence and movement has been one of the key talking points when it comes to Doege taking the next step in his development as a quarterback. He understands that while he doesn’t need to be a dual-threat quarterback, extending plays with his legs and picking up those yards that are there will be critical for him to truly make the leap as a senior with the Mountaineers.

“Get through my reads and nothing is there, not trying to force it. Get down and get what I can,” he said.

Doege understands that he must improve for the West Virginia offense to take that next step but is solely focused on what that means for the team instead of himself.

“I’m just trying to win games and do my job for West Virginia,” he said.

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