Mountaineer football can finally breathe a sigh of relief now that quarterback Jarret Doege has decided to leave West Virginia University and enter the college transfer portal. Mountaineer Nation never really accepted Doege as one of their own. Many people saw him as nothing more than the individual who was filling in for someone else at the QB role. Each time Doege made a mistake over those seasons, the number of Garrett Greene’s supporters climbed.
Every player has their weaknesses, but the quarterback position shines a particularly bright light on those imperfections. Doege lacked the ability to move around. He often missed the mark when throwing long passes. It always seemed like he picked on the worst possible players at the worst possible times. He would occasionally hold on to the ball for too long. Paul Brown, a legendary coach in the National Football League, once said that the true test of a quarterback is where his team finishes.
He was adequate as a passer, but in the cutthroat world of college football, mediocrity simply won’t do. It’s impossible to defeat Oklahoma with mediocre quarterback play. He was successful against the teams that WVU was expected to be successful against, but they were unsuccessful against the teams they were expected to lose to.
He was the quarterback of a team going through a change, having been brought in as coach Neal Brown’s best hope, although lacking the experience and training to rectify the mess that had been left behind when Dana Holgorsen departed for Houston. He knew Brown from the past because Brown was the younger brother of former Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege, whose offensive coordinator at the time was Neal Brown.
Nevertheless, his transition from Bowling Green was not the result of some strange form of nepotism that was taking place. It was Brown who made the move to bring in a seasoned quarterback with football bloodlines to compete with Austin Kendall for the starting job. Doege started his college career at Bowling Green, where he compiled a record of 5-19 before coming to West Virginia. Not much to brag about or get excited about at all. The supporters of West Virginia University did not accept him because he arrived on the scene being who he was. His statistics at West Virginia University were very similar to those he had at Bowling Green. Brown was disappointed that he did not take the next step in his career, but was that entirely his fault?
It became unsustainable since Doege was incapable of carrying the squad on his shoulders, as was requested by an anxious fan base eager to witness the ascent Neal Brown had expected them to trust, which proved to be far greater than they had anticipated.
When he had to be replaced last year in order for West Virginia University to defeat Army in the Liberty Bowl, people anticipated a quarterback swap over the offseason. However, Garrett Greene tried to capitalize on the chance and Goose Crowder was unprepared. It was an unprecedented situation, with a start record of 2-4 against a top-heavy schedule only serving to sharpen the jabs that would be directed at Doege and Brown.
Doege walked right past Brown during a coaching moment during one of their games against Kansas State when they were down 17-0 and having an embarrassing showing. This action showed signs of disrespect and frustration on Doege’s part.
Doege’s divorce from the program and Neal Brown was something that needed to take place, despite the fact that the marriage between Doege and Brown was certainly not one that provided lasting memories for many people. Brown and Doege.
The former West Virginia University quarterback has entered the transfer portal once again without having played a single down while wearing the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers uniform. Austin Reed, a division 2 transfer from West Florida, has surpassed him as the starter at quarterback for Western Kentucky after the former WVU quarterback in search of greener pastures.
It is obvious that Neal Brown’s choice to recruit and start Doege put the Mountaineer program several years behind schedule, even while the transition was taking place. During his three years in office, Brown supported Doege by appearing at each and every press conference to defend his work and maintain that he had improved.
Will Neal Brown make the necessary adjustments in order to do what is best for the team if it turns out that J.T. Daniels is unable to live up to the hype? Or is he going to keep attempting to justify the things he does that aren’t very smart? The program can ill afford to have another setback at the quarterback position, and he needs to find a way to reconvince his fans to again “Trust the Climb” or there is nothing but trouble lying ahead for the program.
