MORGANTOWN — This year's West Virginia University Gold-Blue Spring Football Game has become a concert, a food fair, a shopping mall and, oh yeah, a game itself, but it still retains a certain intrigue that each spring game carries. .
Who will emerge from the shadows of obscurity to become this year's fan darling?
The other day, as I was driving home from a football interview with Greg Hunter of the Blue Gold News, Brian Wright's name somehow came up in conversation. Just the other day, another random thought crossed my mind, and it was kind of a coincidence, but it made me wonder what Brian Wright has been up to lately.
With the spring game approaching, it was more logical than you might think that back in 2003, walk-ons became one of the phenomena that appeared as regularly as spring robins. After his performance in the 2003 spring game, the muscular 5-7, 195-pound Wright performed so well that one wonders if he might overtake muscular Kayjay Harris into the starting lineup. There were people too.
The following spring, then-quarterback Rasheed Marshall commented that Wright had become a member of the “Spring Game Hall of Fame,” while thinking of Wright, who was about to miss the spring game due to injury. No Hall of Fame.
I still remember what coach Rich Rodriguez said about him in 2004 when it was revealed he had gotten a “dynamite” summer job. Some might have thought it would be the perfect job for such an explosive runner, but Rodriguez wasn't convinced when Wright explained the job.
“All day long we were piling up bags of 50 pounds of dynamite,” he said. “It was thousands of bags.”
“He should get a better summer job than that,” Rodriguez said. “It makes me nervous.”
In its overall scheme of things, the Spring Game is more of a show than a game, but it's rich in history.
Consider the 2004 game. The late Chris Henry appeared as a receiver in this game, catching 13 passes for 200 yards and several touchdowns. As a result, Henry entered the season with 52 passes for 872 yards, 16.8 yards per reception and 12 touchdowns.
The next three top WVU receivers combined for just 56 catches.
Fast forward to 2011. It was a seminal season for the Mountaineers, as Dana Holgorsen took over from Bill Stewart. It was a controversial move, but one that was filled with hype for Holgorsen's Air Raid attack. Fans were eager to get a glimpse of Holgorsen, who lived up to his expectations in the spring game.
A record crowd estimated at 22,000 gathered at Mountaineer Field and forced the upper deck to open, but Geno Smith, Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin did not let them down. The first six plays of the game were passes, with the sixth play being a 67-yard pass from Smith to Bailey.
The entire offense gained 838 yards in a 10-minute quarter, and Smith completed 26 of 37 for 388 yards and four touchdowns, letting NFL officials know he was going to be one of the best in football history. Ta.
Looking back over the years, a lot of quarterback names have come and gone.
For example, in 2013, there were two sides: Paul Millard on one side and Ford Childress on the other.
There was another quarterback in the audience that day. It was a young player considering transferring from Florida State University. His name was Clint Trickett, and by the end of the year he was the starting quarterback for the Mountaineers and a fan favorite.
There was another player at that game who was inducted into Marshall's Spring Game Hall of Fame for the second year in a row. The wide receiver they called “Squirt” became one of WVU's best receivers. His full name is Jordan Thompson, and he starred in 2012 with eight receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown in Holgorsen's Air Raid offense.
The 5-7, 176-pound Thompson was even better, completing three touchdown passes in 2013, finishing his career with the Mountaineers with 117 catches for 1,370 yards and several touchdowns. finished.
In 2014, the quarterback job was held by Trickett, but on a great day that included a nifty goal by Vernon Davis Jr., the walk-on quarterback from Fairmont emerged from the shadows, but the highlight of the day was provided the score on Mario Alford's 99-yard touchdown return.
They decided in 2016 that it might be nice to have a change of scenery in the spring, and what better place than the Greenbrier? The game drew about 6,000 fans and was one of the best for a spring game with a final score of 49-46, but it didn't matter who won.
It was a big mess because he wasn't playing in Morgantown, but why not decide the game in the final seconds on a pass from David Sills V, who made his Mountaineers fame and NFL career as a wide receiver? . , but at the time he hadn't given up on believing he was a quarterback.
But Skyler Howard was the quarterback of the day, going 18-of-26 and scoring three touchdowns, enough for Holgorsen to name him the starter for the season after the game.
In 2017, there was another quarterback who made headlines in the spring. This spring's game featured many former Mountaineers greats, including Hall of Fame quarterback Major Harris and Kevin White.
But Holgorsen thought it might be fun to bring in a surprise quarterback, so he sent Geno Smith to play with opposing Shelton Gibson, and Geno hit Gibson with a long TD throw to give him hope. I didn't betray you.
Surprise quarterbacks have always excited the crowd at spring games. Back in 2021, there was a quarterback competition between Jarrett Doge and Garrett Green, with some pretty good high school quarterbacks coming up and showing off their skills.
They were using the net to throw to the hoop, and Miles “Deuce” McBride made that his life's work in the NBA, so that may have helped him. The former Moeller High School quarterback in Cincinnati took some time to warm up, but his final toss into the corner of the end zone went wide.
In 2018, the spring game was canceled due to the winter season. Apparently it was canceled due to the winter weather forecast, but the fans must have been sad. In 2019, with new uniforms and a crowd of 18,865, we knew it wasn't going to be a great year. The big play of the game was a 60-yard pass to TJ Simmons.
Although the 2020 games were also canceled due to the coronavirus, several small players with big prospects have emerged over the past two years. Preston Fox, a walk-on at the time, had five catches for 117 yards, including one of the 50 yards he was introduced to Mountaineer Nation in 2022, but last year. Playing for Jahiem White, the then-promising freshman revealed the secret to his ability as he recorded 91 yards on seven carries. Including a 53-yard TD burst.
this year?
I think it's time for backup quarterback Nikko Marchiol to live up to the high praise he's received throughout the spring, but in this day and age, backup quarterbacks who can play are like having an IRA account with a lot of money in it. This is important because it is.
“He's matured as a football player so when he turns on the video, he knows what to watch,” Neil Brown said. “He knows how to prepare himself and has done a really good job of asking for a script so he can be ready for every practice.
“I think from a fundamental standpoint, he's a lot more compact now. His confidence is up because of the higher reps, but his game has slowed down a lot. Before the snap, he's a lot more compact. He has a better understanding of what the defense is trying to do to him. Nikko is right next to the most improved player on offense.”
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