Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
If there were one word that would describe the West Virginia Mountaineers going into the 2013 season, it would be transition. The team will have to find players to replace Geno Smith, Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin at the skill positions. It could easily turn into a season where West Virginia struggles in the Big 12. It would appear so far that Paul Millard will take over at quarterback for Dana Holgorsen’s team, but Holgorsen would love to make this as smooth of a transition as possible.
Holgorsen is going to need to figure out who he wants to start at quarterback if he doesn’t go with Millard, who has the experience being a junior over sophomore Ford Childress. I was of the opinion that West Virginia would just go out and win the Big 12 last season with how high-powered the team’s offense was, but that never happened. It will prompt an interesting decision about where this team goes. Millard has the upper hand obviously right now.
West Virginia averaged nearly 40 points a game last season and was in the top ten in passing yards per game with over 330. I don’t think that Millard or Childress can fill the big shoes of Smith right away, and the team finished 7-6 last season with all that talent. I wouldn’t be too surprised if the Mountaineers don’t even make a bowl game this year. There are just too many landmines along the way for this team to start strong enough to make a great season happen. I could be wrong, but Holgorsen needs to take as much time as he can get with this quarterback decision because a winning season depends on it.
Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.
