MORGANTOWN —
The rule book says that a quarterback is supposed to be passing a football, but the way it has worked with the West Virginia University Mountaineers it seems that each year instead they are passing the torch.
Two years ago it was Patrick White running the show, the emphasis being on running.
Last year it was Jarrett Brown’s team and until his bell got rung he was doing a solid job of it.
Now it’s Geno Smith’s team.
Three quarterbacks, three separate and unique styles, but offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen assures that it is one offense and that despite the obvious differences, it really isn’t much different at all.
“I don’t know that the offense has changed much since the Pat White era,” Mullen said the other day. “We put in a system that can handle any type of quarterback. Clearly with Pat, we wanted to give him the opportunity to throw the ball a little bit and still maintain the running attack.
“With Jarrett having the stronger arm, we wanted to call some plays that would give him a chance to shine, which he did for the first five or six games until he suffered the concussion. After that he took a step back.”
And now there’s Geno Smith. Is it a Pat White offense? is it a Jarrett Brown offense? What can be expected?
The answer is a little White, a little Brown but a whole lot of Geno Smith.
“I think the short answer for Geno is that he has the ability to distribute the ball,” Mullen said.
Mullen’s point is that the spectacular that you came to expect in the past isn’t going to be coming from the quarterback position necessarily this year.
“Both Pat and Jarrett were, physically speaking, the best players on the field. They both dominated the ball. The best players on the field this year are Noel Devine and Jock Sanders. Geno is not that kind of guy. He has the ability to distribute the ball to his receivers.”
That is not meant to be a knock. In fact, it is meant to be anything but a knock on Smith.
He is just a different animal, calm, cool, collected, intelligent. His skill is to keep from making mistakes, to lead the team, to throw to open receivers and spread the ball around.
Can he run? Yeah, not like those two, but he can scramble, and with the likes of Devine, Sanders and a number of other gifted receivers, he doesn’t have to run … unless it is for his life.
“You’ve got to be comfortable, but you also have to be a strong leader,” said Smith, a sophomore out of Florida’s Miramar High. “Guys really look at the quarterback, and if the quarterback gets flustered a lot, it rattles the offense. The quarterback needs to be the leader of the offense as well as make the right reads and the right throws.
“I think as a quarterback, you should be the facilitator, not a guy who makes all the plays, but a guy who gets the ball in the right areas and lets the play-makers do the rest. If we can put it all together, I feel like it’s going to be real special.”
So does coach Bill Stewart, in part because of what he sees from Smith between snaps, when he’s in the huddle.
“He’s done a good job with leadership. There’s something about a kid that steps into a huddle and looks in those eyes, and he’s got it. He really has it,” the coach said.
And then there’s the off-field time that Smith uses to his advantage.
“He’s a sharp young man and watches a lot of film. He spends a lot of time on his own. He’s very special and it’s paying off. He plays ball and he does his homework.”
And he does it like he’s been doing it his whole life. He is quiet about it, at ease with it.
“I’ve never seen emotion from that child in over a year, good or bad,” Mullen noted. “He’s always the same guy. Whether he’s hurt or not, you don’t know it. Whether he’s rattled or not, you don’t know it. Whether he’s mad or not, you don’t know it. That’s a wonderful trait to have as a quarterback.”
In case you don’t recognize it, it is that trait that most ties him to his predecessors, White and Brown.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
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