West Virginia Quarterbacks History

Running Backs and Passing Game: A Look at the Quarterback Position at West Virginia

Most people think West Virginia football is defined by running backs and a ground game. That's not entirely wrong. But the quarterback position at WVU has had its share of notable names and some genuinely interesting storylines that don't get as much attention as they deserve. Going back through the program's history, you see a pattern that's pretty typical for big-time college programs. You have periods where quarterbacks were hard to come by, and then there are eras where the position produced some of the more recognizable names in college football. Pat White is obviously the name that comes up first for most people. He played from 2005 to 2008, won the William V. Campbell Trophy, and was a heisman finalist. His combination of rushing ability and passing accuracy changed how people evaluated the quarterback position at WVU, even though the program always valued dual-threat talent. Before White, there was Ray Rice and other run-first backs, but the quarterback situation wasn't great. Josh Cribbs came around later, but the truth is that WVU struggled to find consistent signal-callers for a long stretch. That changed when Bill Stewart brought in Pat White from Florida, and the program shifted gears completely.

After White left, John Prchlik stepped in and was functional but not spectacular. Then Jake Locker came through as a transfer from Washington, played a couple of seasons, and got drafted by the Titans. That was a solid run, but not flashy. The program went through a rough patch for several years after that. You had Chase Clement, Darris Nichols, and a few others who managed games but didn't put up numbers that made fans excited. The return to prominence really kicked into gear when Bill Stewart brought in Skyler Howard, a quiet four-star recruit from Ohio. Howard started from 2014 to 2016 and quietly put up some strong numbers. He threw for over 8,000 yards and 55 touchdowns in three seasons. Not the flashiest quarterback in the country, but extremely efficient. He had a couple of really strong games against Texas and Oklahoma that surprised people. Davis Webber followed as a true freshman starter in 2017, then Will Grier came in as a graduate transfer from Florida and stabilised things for two seasons. Grier threw for 6,924 yards and 52 touchdowns with just 15 interceptions. That's the kind of efficiency that doesn't always get celebrated because he wasn't a five-star recruit or a hype candidate. He just played clean football.

JT Daniels transferred in from UCLA and started in 2021 before injuries and a rough finish led to the program going through another transition period. Now Caleb Huntley and others have been working through the cycle. The point is that WVU quarterbacks have always had to deal with a program that expects you to run as much as throw, which is a specific kind of pressure that not every quarterback handles well.

What Makes the Position Different at This Program

I've spent enough time looking at game film and roster construction across multiple programs to notice something about WVU specifically. The coaching staffs historically put a premium on size and arm strength. They want quarterbacks who can make every throw, but also survive hits. That's why you see a lot of taller, stronger bodies at the position rather than the quick, pocket-passing types that flourish in spread offenses elsewhere. Here's something most people miss. The quarterback position at WVU has always been evaluated heavily on rushing upside, even when the passing numbers don't reflect it. When you look at recruiting rankings for this program, you'll notice that quarterbacks with legitimate rushing ability get significantly more interest and better evaluation from the staff than pure pocket passers. That's been consistent for decades, going back to the Dan McGahn era and all the way through the Dana Holgorsen years and into the current Brian Smith regime. The counter-intuitive part is that some of the most productive WVU quarterbacks in terms of pure passing stats actually had lower rushing numbers than expected. Will Grier is the clearest example. He wasn't a runner at all, yet he was one of the more efficient passers in program history. Most observers would have guessed he struggled because of that, but he adapted by managing the game perfectly and using play-action heavily to compensate.

I worked with a analytics setup a few years back that tried to predict quarterback success at WVU based on combine-style measurements and high school stats. The model kept overestimating dual-threat prospects and underestimating pure passers. The workaround I found was to weight game film evaluation at least as heavily as athletic testing. Specifically, I started tracking how quarterbacks performed against stacked boxes, because WVU runs a lot of run-heavy formations that load the box. Quarterbacks who could consistently find middle-of-the-field reads under those conditions ended up being the ones who succeeded here, regardless of how fast they ran the 40.

Common Mistakes People Make About This History

One of the biggest issues I see is that people conflate era success. Pat White's numbers look amazing because he played in an option-rich offense with a lot of hurry-up tempo. Comparing him directly to quarterbacks from the 1990s or even the early 2000s isn't really fair because the offensive philosophy was completely different. White had more carries than some running backs in other eras, which inflated his total offensive impact in a way that doesn't translate across time periods. Another thing that gets overlooked is the depth of production from non-star recruits. People remember the five-star guys and the highly recruited transfers, but WVU has had solid years from quarterbacks who weren't considered special at all. David Elrick in the early 2000s, for instance, was a mediocre recruit who still threw for over 2,000 yards in a season and helped the Mountaineers win the Peach Bowl. He's not in the same conversation as White or Grier, but his production was real and it came from a guy nobody excited about coming out of high school. There's also a misconception that the quarterback position has always been a weakness. That's not accurate. There were periods in the 1980s and 1990s when WVU had genuinely good quarterbacks, including Donnie Davis and Steve Raciti, who both put up solid numbers and led decent offenses. The narrative that this program has always struggled at the position is more about recency bias than actual history.

What the Current State Looks Like

As of the 2024 and 2025 seasons, WVU has been cycling through quarterbacks again. Caleb Huntley started games, but the program brought in transfers and developed younger players to fill the role. The current approach under Brian Smith seems to be leaning toward mobility with arm strength, which is a return to the traditional WVU template after the Grier experiment proved that a non-runner could succeed here too. The Big 12 context matters a lot here. Switching from the ACC to the Big 12 changed how quarterbacks are evaluated at WVU. The league is pass-heavy and fast-paced, which puts a different kind of pressure on the position than the Big East did. Quarterbacks who can process information quickly and make rapid decisions are more valuable now than they were ten years ago, even if they don't have elite rushing numbers. If you're trying to understand where this program is headed, watch how they evaluate mobile quarterbacks versus pocket passers in the transfer portal. That decision will probably shape the next five years more than anything else. The history shows that WVU succeeds most when the quarterback fits their specific offensive identity rather than forcing the offense to fit the quarterback.

A Few Numbers That Matter

Pat White: 8,507 passing yards, 61 passing touchdowns, 3,392 rushing yards, 38 rushing touchdowns in four seasons. Will Grier: 6,924 passing yards, 52 passing touchdowns, 15 interceptions, 487 rushing yards in two seasons. Jake Locker: 3,886 passing yards, 24 passing touchdowns, 1,006 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in two seasons.

Skylar Howard: 8,046 passing yards, 55 passing touchdowns, 1,096 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in three seasons. These numbers give you a sense of the range. Some WVU quarterbacks were primarily runners who could throw. Some were primarily throwers who could run a little. The program has accepted both types at different points, which is probably its greatest strength as an identity. It's not locked into one philosophy the way some programs are, and that flexibility has kept the position competitive even during rebuilding years. The bottom line is that West Virginia quarterbacks history is a story of adaptation more than dominance. The program has never consistently had the most talented quarterback class in its conference, but it has repeatedly found ways to make the position work with what it had. That's the practical takeaway if you're researching this for anything beyond casual interest.