WVU Football

Texas Tech running back Justin Stockton nearly corralled a reception despite bobbling the football. West Virginia linebacker Sean Walters somehow wound up with possession instead.

After the ball dropped from Stockton's hands to behind his legs, Walters wrestled it away for a remarkable interception: While tackling Stockton, he prevented the ball from touching the ground.

The second-quarter turnover halted a scoring opportunity for the Red Raiders. The Mountaineers have dominated since the pick, expanding a 10-7 lead to a 48-17 triumph.

West Virginia quarterback William Crest Jr. had a tough game against Missouri. Check it out as the football slips right out of his hand while he attempts a pass. 

Former Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey is going back to college, where he will serve as a student assistant coach under West Virginia Mountaineers head football coach Dana Holgorsen. 

Per Mike Montoro of the team's website, Holgorsen announced on Sunday that Bailey will enroll at West Virginia and work with the Mountaineers football team in 2016.

Per Montoro, Bailey said he was grateful to the Rams for all of their support throughout his career, "especially during the past few months, which have been a tough time."

He also thanked West Virginia for the opportunity: 

Moving forward, I would like to thank West Virginia University, especially coach Dana Holgorsen and athletic director Shane Lyons for making this opportunity available. Even though my playing career isn’t over yet, this gives me more time to heal so I can make a return. However, It is important to me to finish my degree. I loved my time as a Mountaineer football player and I look forward to working with coach Holgorsen and the Mountaineer football program.

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said Bailey's "ability to teach and his remarkable drive and determination will serve him well at West Virginia, and we wish him and his family the best as they step into the next chapter of their lives,” per Montoro.

In addition to working with the football team, Bailey will also be enrolling in classes to earn his bachelor's degree after he left as a junior following the 2012 season. 

The Rams drafted Bailey with the 92nd overall pick in 2013. He was the victim of a shooting in Florida in November, when a car pulled up next to the one he was in and opened fire, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport (via NFL.com's Tyler Dragon).

The 25-year-old attended the Rams' organized team activities in June, helping coach the wide receivers. The team waived him June 7 and expected him to take on a non-playing role before the deal with West Virginia came about.

Bailey's resiliency in the face of unfathomable adversity is incredible. His desire to stay around the game of football has given him a great opportunity to teach young players while also earning his college degree at the university where he became an All-American.

The Big 12 Conference is turning into a destination for former SEC quarterbacks, with ex-Florida passer Will Grier's transfer to West Virginia marking the second such move in the past four months.

Grier joins former Texas A&M quarterback Kyler Murray, now at Oklahoma, as top-tier passers whose circumstances prompted them to make a move and a Big 12 school proved to be the best option. Neither will be eligible until 2017—and Grier's eligibility remains in doubt because of an outstanding NCAA suspension—but their arrival will only improve the overall quality of that conference's QB play.

Football Adds Quarterback Will Grier

➡ https://t.co/pR6NDR580v pic.twitter.com/y1BfxIKVlj

— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) April 6, 2016

West Virginia announced (h/t ESPN's Travis Haney) Wednesday that Grier will enroll in May and will have two years of eligibility remaining. The 6'2”, 201-pound Grier announced in December he was leaving Florida, where he played six games (starting five) as a redshirt freshman, but in October, he was hit with a one-year suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

Grier has said the failed test was due to an over-the-counter supplement, and Haney wrote that "WVU officials were satisfied with Grier's explanation."

It's unclear how Grier's transfer will impact what remains of his NCAA suspension. It's supposed to be for one calendar year, and an appeal to have the suspension limited to just the remainder of the 2015 season was denied. If his transfer-mandated year off doesn't get counted toward the suspension, he might not be eligible until October 2017.

Regardless of when Grier is allowed to play for the Mountaineers, his addition helps address a positional need that has been in effect for the majority of coach Dana Holgorsen's tenure. It's also continuing Holgorsen's reliance on transfers, as Grier could be the third such transfer QB to start since he was hired in 2011.

Skyler Howard, a junior college transfer who came to Morgantown in 2014, is set to be West Virginia's starter for the second year this fall. He took over the starting job late in 2014 from Clint Trickett, who began his career at Florida State.

Howard threw for 3,145 yards and 26 touchdowns last year as a junior, but he was intercepted 14 times and his 54.8 completion rate was worst among FBS quarterbacks with at least 400 pass attempts. He threw for 532 yards and five TDs in the Cactus Bowl win over Arizona State but also had two interceptions and finished the year with four games where he had a sub-50 percent completion rate. Despite his struggles, however, he remained West Virginia's best option over then-freshmen William Crest and David Sills.

Crest played in 11 games but was just 11-of-25 with an interception along with a rushing TD, while Sills—who once committed to USC as a seventh-grader—played eight games at wide receiver and had seven catches with two TDs, including the game-winner in the Cactus Bowl. The Mountaineers' 2016 roster lists six quarterbacks, including one from the 2016 recruiting class (Cody Saunders) who enrolled early.

None, however, was as highly rated coming out of high school as Grier. Rated by 247Sports as the No. 2 pro-style passer in the 2014 class, Grier threw for 1,204 yards with 10 TDs and three interceptions on 65.8 percent passing with Florida, helping the Gators to a 6-0 start. He was 24-of-29 for 271 yards and four TDs in a win over Ole Miss, his second-to-last game before getting suspended.

West Virginia hasn't had a non-transfer start at quarterback since November 2013, when Paul Millard started at Kansas as a junior. The only multiyear non-transfer starter in Holgorsen's tenure was Geno Smith, whom he inherited from previous coach Bill Stewart.

@theneel64 yes, recruiting is always a gamble, but I don't know that I'd call six years of zero HS QBs transitioning into starters unlucky.

— Ben Kercheval (@BenKercheval) April 6, 2016

Grier's move to West Virginia not only boosts that school's quarterback lineup but also that of the Big 12, which, outside of Baylor and Texas, hasn't been that successful in recruiting (and retaining) prep passers. Grier and Murray (the No. 1 dual-threat QB in 2015) will make for a major talent upgrade in 2017.

Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com or Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports, unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.

West Virginia head football coach Dana Holgorsen was believed to be on the hot seat after leading the Mountaineers to a 7-5 record, but the school issued a statement Wednesday reiterating it has no plans to move in a different direction. 

The Charleston Gazette-Mail's Chuck McGill relayed confirmation from West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons:     

Statement from WVU AD Shane Lyons on Dana Holgorsen returning in 2016: pic.twitter.com/uNMl8woMgf

— Chuck McGill (@chuckmcgill) December 10, 2015

ESPN.com's Brett McMurphy first reported Holgorsen's job was safe.   

Mitch Vingle of the Charleston Gazette-Mail penned a piece Monday indicating the school was undecided on Holgorsen's future with the Mountaineers, but as vacancies across the country were quickly filled by quality candidates, West Virginia opted to hold steady. 

Holgorsen's squad started the season 3-0 with easy wins over Georgia Southern, Liberty and Maryland, but conference play took a toll on the Mountaineers. West Virginia proceeded to drop its next four games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU. 

The Mountaineers remained resilient, though, and ripped off four straight wins over Texas Tech, Texas, Kansas and Iowa State. 

However, West Virginia closed its regular season on a sour note with a 24-23 loss to Kansas State. Had the Mountaineers been able to slay the Wildcats and head into bowl season with an 8-4 record, Holgorsen likely wouldn't have been in such a perilous position. 

The 44-year-old has posted a 35-28 record since taking over the reins in 2011, including an Orange Bowl win over Clemson to cap off his first year at the controls.  

The Mountaineers will have a chance to get back on the winning track Jan. 2 when they square off against Arizona State in the Cactus Bowl. 

But beyond January, Holgorsen will need to focus on returning West Virginia to Big 12 glory.

The Mountaineers haven't finished the season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll since 2011, per Sports-Reference.com. Furthermore, West Virginia hasn't ranked higher than 20th in-season over the past two years. 

West Virginia head football coach Dana Holgorsen will remain with the team despite a third consecutive year of registering seven wins. 

The school released a statement announcing the news, via Chuck McGill of the Charleston Gazette-Mail: 

Statement from WVU AD Shane Lyons on Dana Holgorsen returning in 2016: pic.twitter.com/uNMl8woMgf

— Chuck McGill (@chuckmcgill) December 10, 2015

According to Matt Vingle of the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Tuesday, West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons and Holgorsen had met regarding the 44-year-old's job status: 

As of Monday evening, the decision had not been made. All of the principals — Gee, Lyons and Holgorsen — were in New York. ...

When reached Monday, Lyons said he had no comment on Holgorsen’s status. Reliable sources, however, have said the athletic director and coach have talked about the situation a couple times. Those discussions will continue in the coming days.  

But ultimately the Mountaineers elected to retain Holgorsen.

He took over the program in the post-Rich Rodriguez and Bill Stewart regimes when those coaches led West Virginia to six straight seasons with at least 10 wins. 

Holgorsen's first year in 2011 continued that streak with a 10-3 record and a 70-33 thrashing of Clemson in the Orange Bowl. 

In the four years since that debut season, Holgorsen has a 25-25 record. West Virginia was streaky in 2015, starting with three nonconference wins before four straight conference losses and then a four-game winning streak. 

The Mountaineers ended the 2015 regular season with a one-point loss against Kansas State on a controversial call in which Holgorsen had quarterback Skyler Howard attempt a run on 4th-and-1 that wound up losing three yards. 

Even though West Virginia hasn't bottomed out under Holgorsen—the team will play Arizona State on Jan. 2 in the Cactus Bowl—the program has taken significant steps back under his leadership. 

West Virginia's hot start this season has had some cold water thrown on it, as safety Karl Joseph will miss the rest of 2015 after sustaining a knee injury.

Continue for updates. 

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Holgorsen and Joseph Comment on Injury

Wednesday, Oct. 7

“I am devastated and heartbroken for Karl,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said in a team release. “He is a young man who has given everything he has to our football program and University over the past four years and who elected to return to WVU for his senior season to earn his degree and to be a part of something special with this team.  He exemplifies what it means to be a Mountaineer.  Karl is an All-American, a fierce competitor, a leader and I know he will have a full recovery, and I can’t wait to watch him on Sundays next fall.”

Joseph also took the time to give his thoughts in the program's release, saying: “I want to thank my teammates and my coaches for their outpouring of support,” Joseph said. “This has been difficult for me and my family but I know I will come through this stronger than ever.  I will forever be a Mountaineer and will be cheering on our team every step of the way.”

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Joseph's Absence Will Be Felt In Upcoming Conference Games

Joseph, a senior, has been one of West Virginia's best players since arriving on campus in 2012. He has recorded 16 tackles for loss and nine interceptions, including five to lead the nation in 2015, and was named to the first-team All-Big 12 last season. 

The Mountaineers are built on playing an uptempo offensive style and scoring a lot of points. Defense is often a weak point for the team, but Joseph has been a huge bright spot for years. 

There is never a good time to lose a player of Joseph's caliber, but this hits West Virginia particularly hard, as it is in the midst of a brutal stretch of games against Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU in the next three weeks.

We need to talk, West Virginia University.

You have some good things going for you, namely a football program that doesn't incite paralyzing depression and a beautiful college town full of fine locals who are probably very nice and say things like, "Supper's ready."

But you are hurting yourselves and the people of Morgantown, Mountaineers. It started with your smack-talking basketball team feeding its flailing, ineffectual limbs into the Kentucky log chipper, and now your penchant for postgame arson is infringing on the personal liberties of the citizenry.

According to WVPublic.org's Jesse Wright (h/t Laken Litman of For The Win), the city of Morgantown, West Virginia, is banning all patio furniture within city limits due to the unabated burning of said furniture by students after football and basketball games. 

Morgantown City Manager Jeff Mikorski said the ban is a stopgap in the veritable forest fire of less-than-controlled burns initiated by students over the past decade.

"Over the last 10 years, we've had over 3,000 street fires because of the quick ability to bring furniture from porches and put it into the streets and put them on on fire," Mikorski said. 

The law was passed April 7 and covers "upholstered furniture...in yards or unenclosed porches."

What this amounts to is a ban on a fixture of unleveled college patios everywhere—the outdoor moldy couch. You'll find one of these peeling, half-rotten mammoths moldering next to a beer pong table on the majority of campus live-outs, and most of them go neglected but unmolested for years.

Of course, there must certainly be a cross section of locals who also own these swampy things. What are they to do? College kids aren't the only people in the world who enjoy sinking into a mildewing loveseat and feeling the crinkle of last fall's leaves as they open another Keystone. What of their loss?

It's really quite simple, West Virginia. 

Get it together—for your hosts and for yourselves.

Dan is on Twitter. A rain-soaked porch-couch is a privilege, not a right.

West Virginia defensive lineman Kyle Rose was reportedly tased and arrested over the weekend after an incident where he allegedly struck an officer during a scuffle in Morgantown.

Allan Taylor of the Metro News reports Rose was released on $600 bond after being charged with four misdemeanors, including battery on an officer. The report provided further details about what happened leading up to the arrest:

The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. at Bent Willey's bar on Chestnut Street. Security informed police that Rose had been tossed out of the bar earlier but returned and shoved a bouncer upon re-entering. Police ultimately took the 6-foot-4, 294-pound Rose to the floor after he allegedly shoved an officer in the face. The senior nose guard subsequently continued resisting officers' attempts to put him in handcuffs and had to be tased, police said.

Police later said Rose admitted he had been drinking before the situation escalated. Mountaineers head coach Dana Holgorsen told the outlet that all discipline would be handled internally. Also included in the report were comments from WVU director of football operations Michael Montoro.

"As with all students, Rose could face student disciplinary action," he said.

Rose is coming off a season in which he registered 35 tackles for West Virginia. In three years, he's tallied 109 tackles, including 9.5 for a loss, and one sack. He was expected to take on a starting role in the middle of the defensive line again next season.

Whether his status will change following the arrest is unknown.

Much like a savvy investor can spot the treasure amid the trash in a discarded storage unit, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen knows he's got some valuable items in his possession in the form of quarterback Skyler Howard. The key is figuring out whether the reward is worth the risk.

Making his second career start—and only third real appearance—the sophomore followed up a first half full of hope with a final 30 minutes that showed how much he has to learn before he can be considered the best option for West Virginia's offense. Put it all together, and you can understand why Holgorsen doesn't have much hair on top.

Howard threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 11-of-19 passing in the first half of Monday's 45-37 loss to Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl. But after halftime, he was just 9-of-26 for 151 yards and a score, repeatedly overthrowing open receivers or slinging it far too hard when a softer throw would have done the trick.

In fact, when Howard went to the touch pass, getting some air under the ball, he was near-perfect. But when he tried to show off his arm strength, the Mountaineers' lack of nine-foot-tall receivers made it an unwise move.

Playing like a jacked-up youngster on a stage far bigger than anything he'd dealt with before, Howard showed a combination of swagger and stumbles that could make him either an intriguing breakout star or a potential bust in 2015. A lot will depend on how he—and Holgorsen—uses what happened against Texas A&M to factor into next season's plans.

When he was rolling early, Howard was showing off a level of swagger that hearkened back to another unheralded, Texas-bred quarterback who played with fire and flair. He even broke out the Johnny Manziel "money" sign after a touchdown pass, and he also jawed with Texas A&M players after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit on a rollout.

https://twitter.com/UofCFB/status/549666299945967617

But when the passes kept sailing, and Howard's running ability failed to produce—the dual-threat quarterback had only 33 yards on 10 carries, with a long of 18 yards—the early success quickly turned into growing pains. Howard completed only two of his first 15 second-half passes, during which West Virginia went from trailing 28-27 to going down 45-30.

Holgorsen stuck with him though, and Howard kept heaving it. He completed four passes of 40-plus yards, including a 47-yard toss to Shelton Gibson in the fourth quarter, and ultimately finished with 346 yards on 20-of-45 passing with three TDs and no interceptions.

Howard took a winding path to get to West Virginia. An overlooked high school standout from Fort Worth, Texas, he spent a semester at FCS Stephen F. Austin before moving to Riverside City College in California.

He threw for 3,151 yards and 33 touchdowns and also ran for five scores, yet according to 247Sports his only offers after that performance (besides West Virginia) were from San Diego State, New Mexico State and FCS school Northern Colorado.

He wasn't expected to be part of West Virginia's immediate plans before the season began, not with senior Clint Trickett asserting himself as one of the better quarterbacks in the country. Yet Howard ended up being second on the depth chart ahead of senior Paul Millard and freshman William Crest—though he only got into one of the first 10 games.

"I'm on this team to play my role, whatever that is, whatever [the coaches] decide," Howard told Bob Hertzel of the Exponent Telegram in November. "I'll be the best backup we have or I'll be the best starter we have."

Then Trickett suffered a concussion against Kansas State, and Howard was quickly thrust into the job. He threw for 198 yards and two TDs in relief, then followed that up with 285 yards and three TDs in a win at Iowa State in the regular-season finale.

Trickett seemed poised to take back his job for the bowl game, but then the surprise news that he was retiring from football as the result of five concussions in 14 months meant Howard was back in the spotlight. After how he fared Monday, though, he's in no way a sure bet to be West Virginia's starter next season.

I said last week my money was on William Crest to be WVU’s starting QB in 2015. After this game, I stand by that even more. #LibertyBowl

— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) December 29, 2014

Other Big 12 teams have put huge stock in what their quarterbacks have done in bowl games recently, only to see that all-eggs-in-one-basket approach blow up in their face.

Last season, following a huge performance against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, Oklahoma's Trevor Knight was anointed as an early Heisman candidate, but he never came close to looking like that this fall. Backup Blake Bell had been converted to a tight end by then, and after Knight got hurt the Sooners had to turn to ill-prepared freshman Cody Thomas.

And Texas Tech seemed to have no problem with a mass exodus of passers after Davis Webb tore up Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl. Then Webb went out and threw 13 interceptions in eight games and also got replaced by a freshman after being injured.

With that in mind, Howard's struggles Monday might be the best thing that could have happened for him—and for the Mountaineers. If he had put forth a full game of superior plays, he might have headed into 2015 with an offseason of hype that figures to get tempered by a hellacious Big 12 schedule.

West Virginia plays at Oklahoma, Baylor, TCU and Kansas State next season. That's the kind of gauntlet that's best handled with some pre-existing humility, rather than a head swollen with overconfidence.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.