MORGANTOWN - At this point of the season, no one rooting for West Virginia is in a hurry to end the Skyler Howard Era. Not with the way he's played. Not with the way his backups have played.
Howard has 642 passing yards in the 2-0 start. The only time he's had more yards in back-to-back games was an 813-yard binge to finish the 2015 season, and that was bloated by 532 yards in the Cactus Bowl.
He's completed 65.7 and 60.6 percent of his passes in the two games this season - with three dropped passes Saturday. The only other time he's ever been above 60 percent in consecutive games was when he started last season with a run of 64.0, 80.8, 63.6 against Georgia Southern, Liberty and Maryland.
There's a point to be made out of all that. Howard has succeeded against non-conference opponents, be they in a bowl or before the start of Big 12 play. The true challenge awaits when Howard sees better defenses that are more familiar with him and the Mountaineers, and a season ago Howard's play more than leveled out, so much so that the offense ended up running the ball 59 percent of the time
But go ahead and tell Howard, who won a national player of the week and the team's player of the game award this week, he can't change that. That's what he likes. That's why he's here.
"He continues to impress me, just based on the fact everyone tells him he can't do it and he goes out there and does it," Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen said.
That's what the Mountaineers will miss when he's gone, likely to be replaced by Florida transfer Will Grier. They are two very different people and very different players, but they both have what Holgorsen wants.
"Just a guy who makes plays, more than anything," Holgorsen said. "I'm proud of Skyler. He's doing good. I rarely give our player of the game award to a quarterback. Those guys get patted on the back all the time. He plays good, you guys write about him. He plays bad, you guys write about him. The crowd's going to cheer or boo, one of the two. That's part of the position."
Howard didn't practice on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday last week and he didn't do much on Friday. He matched a career-high Saturday with five touchdowns, and his 389 yards was his second-highest total. It was, Holgorsen said, "the best game he's had since he's been here," and let's assume it was also better than what Howard did at the FCS school and the junior college he attended before joining the Mountaineers.
"That's the type of kid he is," Holgorsen said. "If you tell him he can't do it, he typically does it. I probably need to remember that and tell him he's terrible every Saturday morning."
Grier has never dealt with that. He's never been overlooked or underrecruited. He didn't end up at his first school because no one else wanted him. He didn't leave that place because coaches wanted him to play running back. He's not a few inches short. His arm is not a bit less than what's desired.
Howard dealt with all that. In reality, he still deals with that, because he refuses to forget the way be was doubted and dismissed in the past. But the 6-foot-1, 212-pound Grier is not only different. He's unlike anyone WVU has ever had. The school has never had a quarterback with a background like his.
Parade Magazine, the Maxwell Football Club and Mr. Football USA named him the high school player of the year in 2013 while 247Sports and MaxPreps put him on their All-America team. He passed for 4,989 yards with a country-leading 77 touchdowns as a senior - when he also rushed for 1,251 yards with 13 touchdowns.
College coaches across the country visited his games and his home in North Carolina. And while WVU turned to Howard when Clint Trickett was unable to continue in 2014, Florida went with Grier last season to revive a struggling offense. He was 5-0 as a starter and 4-0 against SEC teams.
But then he was suspended after a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance, which is to say he, like Howard, is not without skeptics. But he, like Howard, is working through it. WVU has played two games. Grier has been the scout team player of the week once, and defensive coordinator Tony Gibson is lobbying Holgorsen to let him keep Grier around as much as possible.
Holgorsen's not having that. The Mountaineers can't afford to give him snaps on offense, but they can't afford not to expose him to the future. WVU wants Grier with the quarterbacks for meetings and practice drills, and they want him to be who they've come to know in just a few months, which is the only way Grier has ever known to go about his business.
"Being a starting quarterback comes natural to some guys," Holgorsen said. "Some guys have got to work on it a little bit more than others. It just really comes natural to Will. He gets in the huddle, and he's great on the sidelines and really does a good job. Happy he's here and happy with his progression at this point. Hopefully he can rub off on some on these other guys as well, which I think he is."
Contact Mike Casazza at 304-319-1142 or mikec@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikecasazza and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/wvu/.