MORGANTOWN - On three separate occasions this season - first at Big 12 media day in July, later on a Tuesday before an October home game against TCU and finally this past Saturday following a win at Iowa State - Skyler Howard has mentioned being booed at home.
That last one was more pointed than the others, perhaps shaped by the frustration or the reality that his opinion hadn't changed after the first two references, and Howard framed his final home game and a pregame ceremony honoring him and West Virginia's 20 other seniors and their families as "another opportunity to get booed with my mom."
Three times is more of a habit than happenstance, and Howard was not available to talk to reporters this week. WVU instead named four fifth-year senior captains for the season and paid tribute to their contributions and their final weeks by letting linebacker Justin Arndt, defensive end Noble Nwachukwu, center Tyler Orlosky and receiver Daikiel Shorts meet the media.
Orlosky, who usually transfers the ball to Howard, had to take the hot-button handoff from his friend and teammate.
"This is probably one of the times I should keep my mouth shut," Orlosky said. "I'm just going to say I don't have a comment on what he did. It's his own right to do what he wants. The best thing I can do is support him. He has the support of his teammates and his coaches. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I wouldn't rather have anyone behind me snapping the ball to."
Why Howard would say what he's said is one question. Why he'd be booed by his fans is another. So, too, is why he'd incite fans not only with his words, but with his deeds, because in the prior home game, a loss to Oklahoma, Howard and the offense were jeered as they trotted off the field in the first half, and Howard, for some reason, waved his arms.
You may question Howard's arm strength and his accuracy. You could analyze his statistics and highlight the disparity between what he's done against elite and against lesser opposition. You might cheer him for his toughness and his leadership and you may chide him for the decisions he makes and the way he reacts to various triggers.
There are opinions attached to any debate or discussion that follows, but this is fact: The Mountaineers are who and where they are because of Howard.
You don't agree? Consider where they'd be without him.
Howard was a member of the 2014 recruiting class. As WVU was putting together that group of prospects, it understood the quarterback situation for the 2014 season. Clint Trickett and Paul Millard would be seniors. Ford Childress would be a third-year sophomore. William Crest was, for a long time, the only quarterback committed to the recruiting class.
And then in December of 2013, Howard, an unknown high school recruit who became an unheralded junior college recruit, joined the list.
The Mountaineers wanted and looked for a junior college player, someone who had smarts and savvy that came from playing against people beyond the high school level, because they knew they might need someone to play in 2014.
One never knew how long Trickett's body would last, and he didn't get through 2014. Childress, who was coming off a torn pectoral muscle, never made it to the season and was suspended and later left the team in January 2014.
Millard couldn't handle the starting job in 2013, and there was only hope in the presence of proof that he could develop enough to win and then keep the job in 2014 - when he ended up redshirting. Crest played early but a shoulder problem ended his season and no doubt derailed a career that now sees him covering punts and kickoffs.
Howard wound up starting twice and playing in four games in 2014, and he's now 18-8 as the starter as No. 13 WVU (9-2, 6-3 Big 12) prepares for the regular-season finale against Baylor (6-5, 3-5) in Saturday's 3:30 p.m. Fox Sports 1 game at Mountaineer Field.
Of all the junior college transfers Mountaineers could have had - which is to say of all the players the Mountaineers could have picked other than Howard - they found the best of the bunch. One other junior college quarterback signed with a team Power 5 team that season, and Jerrard Randal passed for 518 yards and five touchdowns and ran for 806 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games in 2014-15 at Arizona.
A handful of quarterbacks signed with Group of 5 schools. Many played and some started. Howard is now in third place in WVU history with 8,073 yards of total offense.
In so many ways, he's been not merely what the Mountaineers wanted as they tried to get back on track following a 4-8 record in 2013. He's been what the Mountaineers needed, and at the end of perhaps the ninth 10-win season in school history, that's something if not someone to cheer.
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/.