Former WVU QB Austin Kendall Gets Another Chance to Start

Former West Virginia starting quarterback Austin Kendall has been named the starting quarterback for Louisiana Tech's first game of the 2021 season against Mississippi State, according to BleedTechBlue.

Austin Kendall will start at QB for #LATech at Mississippi State on Saturday.

Kendall, a transfer from West Virginia, has completed 62% of his throws for 2,418 yards, 17 TDs and 10 INTs in his collegiate career.

Kickoff is set for 3 PM on ESPNU.
— BleedTechBlue (@BleedTechBlue) August 31, 2021

Kendall transferred to West Virginia prior to the 2019 season from Oklahoma where he had backed up back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. Coming from a prestigious program like Oklahoma and the success that they have had over the years with quarterbacks, expectations were set pretty high for Kendall in Morgantown.

Unfortunately, he dealt with a hand injury for much of the 2019 season and did not have much help surrounding him. The offensive line was very young and inexperienced aside from left tackle Colton McKivitz which led to WVU's struggles in the running game. At receiver, the Mountaineers lost Gary Jennings and David Sills V to the NFL and Marcus Simms left the team the spring Neal Brown took the job. Drops and inexperience plagued WVU at wide receiver and it wasn't until late in the year when they began to finally come around. By that time, Kendall had lost the starting job to Jarret Doege and never regained it.

Kendall spent the entire 2020 season as Doege's backup and only saw action in the first game of the year vs Eastern Kentucky and in the bowl game vs Army. In the bowl game, Doege struggled to move the ball down the field so at halftime, Neal Brown made the switch to go to Kendall and it paid off. Kendall led the Mountaineers to a comeback win to give Neal Brown his first bowl win as WVU head coach. In that game, Kendall went 8/17 for 121 yards and two touchdowns.

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