MORGANTOWN - Through two starts in 2014, an offseason that bridges the winter, spring and summer months and now two starts this season, Skyler Howard has become the caretaker of West Virginia's offense.
He has the Mountaineers at 2-0, a small step for a football team that started 1-1 each of the past two years. He's thrown five touchdowns and 13 incomplete passes. He's cleanly handled 108 snaps in leaving WVU as one of just six teams that hasn't turned the ball over this season.
He's cooking it up off the field, too.
"He's great on the grill," said WVU receiver Shelton Gibson.
What's happening during games is a product of what happens in the days before them, much the same way that what's happening this season with Howard in charge is a result of what happened in the workouts, the meetings and cookouts that preceded it.
Howard has a grasp of the offense and a hold of his position, but he has his teammates in his hands, too. If a running back has a question, Howard has the answer. If a lineman isn't sure what one call means and might confuse it with another, Howard clears up everything. If a receiver runs the wrong route, Howard corrects the error.
"If he knows somebody's hungry," running back Wendell Smallwood said, "he'll cook for us."
Howard was pushed into the starting spot late last season when concussions sidelined Clint Trickett. Howard wanted to earn the job, though. There are no practices in the winter. There are no games in the spring. There are rules that limit football in the summer. That was no reason for Howard to take time off.
It was then when he won the job by winning over his teammates. He figured out the offense and memorized not only his chores but the responsibilities of his teammates. He met with players. He organized workouts. He never missed a day.
And while he was working to better his teammates, they all noticed he was driven to work on his own performance as well. Howard's mannerisms are mild. His bravado is muted. The silence is the eye of a storm that stirs inside him.
"I know his story," Gibson said. "I know that he had no scholarship offers out of high school, and that sent him to a small college to play running back. He didn't want to do that, and he didn't want to give up on his dream. He wanted to play quarterback at a big school, and he went to junior college to do it. He has that drive where I know he can't be shut down."
The season arrived with Howard situated as the starter, but he hasn't stopped. Howard earned his undergraduate degree in May and is in graduate school now. He's teaching a master's class in football on the side. Every Monday, Howard preps his receivers on what they can expect during practice that week and the game that weekend.
It begins on Sunday, a day that oftentimes ends with Howard gathering leftover food from the team meal and handing it out to the needy. Early on, though, he's huddling with coaches to get a look ahead to the next opponent and a look back at the game the Mountaineers just played.
"I usually get the film on my iPad and go through it with the coaches and get an idea what's going on," he said. "Then I pull up last week's game and look at it. As weeks go on, I'll get more in depth with those meetings."
The Mountaineers meet Sundays and watch film from Saturday's game. Players are commended for what they did right, and they're made aware of what they did wrong. It's how WVU puts the game to rest and motivates or reassures the players as they start over for a new opponent.
That preparation has to wait, though. The team is off on Monday, but Howard has a meeting to run, and his players don't dare miss those gatherings. It's their preview for the upcoming defense, what it likes to do, what it does well and how the Mountaineers can expect to be instructed when practice arrives a day later.
"He has us come in and meet with him and go over stuff, and then we're already up to speed with it," said Smallwood, who attends the meetings because he plays so much as a receiver. "That's our off day, but Tuesday is a better practice because we already know what's going on."
There's a noticeable reverence for Howard, and a quarterback has to possess it, but it's not new at WVU. Trickett was popular. He worked with players outside of the scheduled times and dates. He even offered food, taking players out to eat and rewarding his linemen when he wasn't sacked.
Still, there's something different about the admiration of Howard. Maybe it's the fact he didn't come to WVU from a major program or that he didn't grow up around the game as a coach's son. He wasn't an elite recruit and he wasn't a primary option when he arrived after his transfer. Yet there he is, in charge and prospering and not letting accomplishments lead him to believe he's accomplished anything.
"He's got our back and we've got his back," Smallwood said.
That's sincere. Teammates want him to succeed. It's good for the Mountaineers, but they believe his hard work deserves rewards. It's why they go to extremes to make sure he's acknowledged for his resolve, for his productivity, for his meetings. It's why they glow about the Monday session before the Liberty game, when he completed 21 of 26 passes for 263 yards and three touchdowns.
"It was actually canceled," Howard said.