WVU looks for "perfect world" at quarterback
West Virginia has three eligible scholarship quarterbacks on the roster this fall.
But in a perfect world, the coaching staff would only want to use two of those.
That’s because sophomore David Isreal just arrived in Morgantown Saturday and didn’t have the benefit of going through an entire summer further developing his game. The fact that he also has a redshirt year to go along with three more years of eligibility doesn’t hurt matters either.
“He doesn’t know what we call inside zone, which is the easiest thing we do,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said. “He doesn’t know which way is which. It’s not his fault, he just got here.”
Isreal is expected to serve as the third-team quarterback this coming season behind starter redshirt junior and Florida transfer Will Grier and redshirt sophomore Chris Chugunov serving as the backup. But that doesn’t mean he won’t see plenty of time under center to get his feet wet in the meantime.
That means West Virginia will force feed reps to the junior college transfer in order to catch him up and bring him along while meeting with offensive coordinator Jake Spavital to get him in a position where he could contribute if he was needed to be called upon.
“He has to redshirt in a perfect world,” Holgorsen said.
In the meantime, West Virginia will rely on the arm of Grier, with Chugunov serving as the primary backup option entering the season. There are a total of four scholarship quarterbacks currently on the roster, with Miami transfer Jack Allison sitting out this year due to NCAA transfer rules.
But early into fall camp both Isreal and Allison have impressed. While two different styles of quarterback given the dual-threat abilities of Isreal and the pocket-passing nature of Allison the two understand their strengths and weaknesses.
"I'm fired up both of them are here," offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said.
Spavital spent 30-minutes with the two quarterbacks prior to the opening practice going over snap cadence, formations, snaps, checks and plays and both set through the meetings attentively and asked questions.
"For the first day they both had great poise and they are just naturally going to get better," Spavital added.
But that’s not to say Grier isn’t plenty capable of the job after a stellar start at Florida prior to receiving a one-year suspension due to taking a banned substance.
In six games, Grier led the Gators to an undefeated start while showcasing a command of the offense. That has only carried over to his time in Morgantown where he has impressed with his arm talent as well as his understanding of the scheme.
It’s a different look than last year’s quarterback Skyler Howard, and one that will change the offense somewhat as the Mountaineers highlight the strengths of Grier.
“It’s been fun to watch him progress,” Holgorsen said.