West Virginia football quarterback Kendall focusing on the details

Austin Kendall threw the ball 46 times against Texas.

Mostly the results were good, with only five minuses on the day in film evaluation according to position coach Sean Reagan. Five negatives out of 46 opportunities seems like a pretty good day at the office.

But the number that stood out for obvious reasons was four because that was how many interceptions that the redshirt junior threw on the day.

Adding to matters is that three of those miscues ended up resulting in Longhorn touchdowns.

Kendall put all four of those mistakes on his own shoulders, although head coach Neal Brown and Reagan weren’t nearly as critical of the quarterback’s play. The first was the responsibility of Kendall as he read the wrong side of the field and another where he was caught starring a receiver down and was late delivering the ball which led to it being a tip drill interception.

But Reagan finds it hard to hold him accountable for a 50-50 ball that was thrown to Sam James and then the final pick of the day when it was a timing pattern where the receiver ran the route short.

“On timing plays when you run a short route bad things can happen,” Reagan said.

Predictably they did as the cornerback jumped the route before it was even triggered to result in an interception. On the play before, the Mountaineers used the exact same play to the boundary and the receiver executed the route but obviously that didn’t carry over.

But the difference in interceptions and a clean game can come down to split second decisions. Processing that must improve for Kendall to take that next step as the signal caller of the Mountaineers as the season moves forward. Because to Reagan, things are close.

“He threw the football as good as he’s thrown it in his career at West Virginia Saturday. If we can build on that and just make quicker decisions on those five or six plays he had a minus on, if we can speed that process up then he’s in line to have a really good game,” he said.

Reagan points to one instance in the game where Kendall was hesitant to close the half with a potential chunk gain available down the seam in a four vertical look he instead opted to scramble. While Reagan doesn’t have a problem with his quarterback checking down, understanding when he can take those chances is what will help his overall development moving forward.

Despite being a graduate transfer, Kendall has only started five games in his career so there is room for him to make improvement on a week-to-week basis. He’s been far from perfect, but things aren’t as far away as a four interception performance would lead you to believe on the surface.

Especially with the way that Kendall bounced back in the game, showing no signs of letting his performance keep him from managing the team and competing at a high level.

There’s positives to take from a four-interception day when it comes to the progression of Kendall as the starting quarterback, but now it’s about putting it all together piece by piece.

“He was pretty but down but he understood after watching tape. He’s really, really close to being a good quarterback in this league and it’s just the small details,” Reagan said.

WATCH: Musings from the Mountains | West Virginia Football vs. Iowa State Preview | Episode 30

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