NOTE: I wrote the following article over 5 months ago. September 16, 2019, to be exact. With little opportunity for Trey Lowe to ever get any real playing time with the Mountaineers, I suggested that he should transfer from West Virginia University and go somewhere else where he would be given a real chance.
Make no mistake about it, Trey Lowe was never given a real chance at WVU. Trey Lowe was a Dana Holgorsen guy and Neal Brown sunk his ship with his captain (Austin Kendall) last season.
I was right about Trey Lowe. After it was clear that Austin Kendall was not going to successfully lead the Mountaineers, Lowe was the obvious answer. Continuing to play Kendall was a disaster and Jack Allison as Kendall’s backup was a joke.
Kendall and Allison are not going to add anything to the future of the team and although I took a lot of shots for it, Lowe could have been a major part of the future of the team. Whether it was as a backup or as a contender for the starting job against Doege for the next two seasons, he could have added something and it’s a real shame that he was never given that chance.
Those of you that say that Brown is the Head Coach and that he put the best players on the field, you are very naive. Brown couldn’t give up on Austin Kendall so quickly last season after promising him the job in order to transfer from Oklahoma. Admitting that he was wrong about Kendall was an impossibility for Brown and so the West Virginia offense suffered through miserable game after miserable game while continuing to “trust the climb.”
Trey Lowe leaving the program stings. He was an outstanding talent and an even better young man. His class and team-first attitude have always been characteristics of his, but it was on full display today in his good bye message to Mountaineer Nation. Trey Lowe will be missed and I’m certain that he will go on to have a successful career elsewhere.
With that said, here’s my article from September 16, 2019:
“I Might Consider Transferring if I were Trey Lowe”
West Virginia will live and die behind the arm of Austin Kendall for the 2019 season. If Kendall were to get injured, he would be replaced by Jack Allison. If Jack Allison were to get injured or didn’t perform at a high level, Neal Brown would likely turn to Bowling Green transfer Jarret Doege, who, under the new NCAA redshirt rules, can play in up to four games this season.
Where does this leave the ultra-talented, dual threat Redshirt Freshman Trey Lowe? Unfortunately, Lowe is on the outside looking in, an enormously talented young man who will have his talented wasted on the sideline for the Mountaineers.
The circumstances for him getting any playing time are highly unlikely. Kendall, Allison and Doege would have to be unable to play for Lowe to be given a real opportunity. While his chances of playing this year are slim, it only gets more complicated next year, as Kendall, Allison and Doege will all be back, and West Virginia’s quarterback of the future, four star golden boy Garrett Greene, will be a fiery, precocious Freshman ready to compete for the starting position immediately.
When student athletes are involved, it’s important to consider what’s best for the young men. Obviously Neal Brown and Mountaineer fans would like for Trey Lowe to remain with the team for the next four years, but can anyone honestly say that this is what is best for this young man’s future? While the success of the football program is paramount, would anyone really blame Lowe for doing what’s best for himself?
