While the rest of the West Virginia football team was preparing for the second half against Missouri, senior quarterback Skyler Howard was meeting with the training staff.

Late in the second quarter, Howard took a shot to the ribs that sent him to the sidelines on a busted run play.

Two more quarterbacks and two turnovers later and there was some question how effective the offense would be in the second half. The Mountaineers entered halftime with a 13-3 lead but the question was would they exit the locker room with their starting quarterback back on the field?

“I don’t think anybody in their right mind could question his toughness. It hurts to breathe so that’s typically not an injury that guys come back from,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

Howard met with the training staff and received x-rays on his ribs, but after learning that there was no break or anyway he could further injure it the decision was already made. Howard knew that he would be heading back out onto the field for the second half even before his teammates.

“I was ready to go out and play some ball,” Howard said.

Howard took the field to start the second half and would engineer a seven play, 80-yard drive that would put the Mountaineers ahead 20-3 and effectively end the Missouri rally.

And while the senior would never admit it, the spark that his return gave the Mountaineers was noticeable on the field both in yardage as well as an emotional lift being a senior leader.

“He’s a seasoned, competitive, smart kid that understands exactly what we’re trying to do. Skyler is our guy and I think we all understand that and he makes us go,” Holgorsen said.

“They believe in him,” Holgorsen added.

However, Howard focused on the task at hand not the circumstances surrounding it.

“There’s not much “oh yeah, he’s back, hooray.” It’s let’s execute and get back to what we were doing,” Howard said.

It’s just a testament to the resolve of the Texas native, who is defined by his gritty play on the field. Overall, the senior completed 23-35 passes for 253 yards, while also rushing for 35 more. Howard took advantage of the high-safety look that Missouri used, constantly connecting with senior wide receiver Daikiel Shorts while displaying a much-improved intermediate passing game.

“The middle was open so we had to take advantage of it,” Howard said.

However, given the physical nature of the game, the question now turns to keeping him healthy moving forward. Redshirt sophomore William Crest and redshirt freshman Chris Chugunov both turned the ball over in limited action putting the position behind Howard in the spotlight.

But for now, while Howard is sore, he’s still fighting.