Reagan Gives Spring Evaluation of WVU's New Quarterback

Some insight on freshman Sean Boyle.

True freshmen rarely get the opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback job at the Power Five level. That's no different in Morgantown. Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol will battle it out for the starting gig while Sean Boyle uses this year as a development year learning and mastering the playbook and spending a lot of time in the weight room.

Much like Greene, Boyle has quite the learning curve to navigate. Boyle ran an offense at Charlotte Catholic that primarily focused on the running game. He factored into it some rushing for 490 yards and eight touchdowns during his three years as a starter.

By not having eye-popping passing numbers, it led to a lot of schools overlooking him which was a good thing for WVU. It's rare that a kid with his dual-threat ability playing in a metro area is underrecruited and goes essentially unnoticed. The other part of it is, Boyle had a late growth spurt growing over two inches and putting on approximately 20 pounds. He's currently listed at 6'2", 204 lbs, but will likely make an effort to get up over 215, possibly to 220. 

Arriving in the winter allowed Boyle to get a head start on things. He excelled in the classroom but is now going through the ups and downs that every quarterback goes through in their transition to college football. 

"He's come a long way," said quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan. "I mess with him all the time. I'm like, look man, you should be getting ready for prom and you're out here playing Big 12 spring football. He gets frustrated from time to time and you have to warn those young guys that look, winter - you're in the classroom, learning the playbook. You can answer the questions on the board. You feel good about yourself. You go out to practice and it's 1,000 miles per hour. So you kind of hit rock bottom the first week and a half and then we started picking his reps up and he's getting better. I think he had 15 snaps in the scrimmage on Saturday and got twelve pluses, so he had a pretty good day on that. He's got a long way to go, but he's come a long way."

In Boyle's senior year, he threw for 1,941 yards, 20 touchdowns, and three picks while completing 68% of his passes. The arm talent is there. Now it's about learning coverages, going through progressions, and making the right reads. The good thing is, Boyle will have at least two years of grooming before he enters the conversation.

You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:

Facebook - @MountaineersNow

Twitter - @MountaineersNow and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.