… the Mountaineers will play.

You all covered the bases last week after Dana Holgorsen named his starting quarterback. WVU made a pitch later in the week when the some players, including Trickett, and coaches, including his position coach and offensive coordinator, Shannon Dawson, were made available to the media.

In the wake of an announcement like the one to precede it, it was everything you’d probably expect.

“This group going into last year was a very inexperienced group, including [Trickett],” Dawson said. “That group needs leadership and they look to him anyways. We feel like it’s clear-cut in our mind or we wouldn’t do it. It’s going to give him confidence when you know you’re the guy and there’s no questions about it.

“This unit right here, was in my opinion looking for somebody, they needed somebody to be a leader. It’s hard to be a leader when you’re not the starter. It clears up a lot of things he can have a clear mind, relax, get better and not worry about trying to win the job every day.”

Trickett is confident he can get the job done. He said being named starter this early has allowed his focus to be solely on the team.

“It’s huge,” Trickett said. “They [players] know who to look to. I’m more comfortable. I don’t have to worry about [who will be the starter]. I can focus on my game and getting the team better. Last year we worried about it, we all wanted to win it, maybe we worried about that too much and didn’t focus on getting the team better. We won’t have that problem this year.”

Timing is everything, right? Well, here then is something else we have to tip our cap to.

Previously on Tier 4, Holgosen explained how he’d use the NCAA’s newly introduced eight-week summer workout period — and if we’re being honest, Trickett is probably the starter last season if that rule existed … and who knows what happens in Norman, Oklahoma, where the ball just couldn’t get to open receivers when it mattered and then couldn’t stay in a receiver’s grasp on the occasions when it did arrive.

Anyhow, Holgorsen explained the unconventional, albeit logical decision to use only six of the eight weeks.

“We could do all eight if we wanted to, but I want guys to take vacation so by the time Aug. 1 rolls around they’re fresh and energized and ready to go,” Holgorsen said. “We’re going to be with them so much in August that I just want them to take a little down time in July.

“But if we wanted to, we could have been here those two weeks in July and do the things we’ll do these four weeks in June. I just don’t think that’s necessary. I think that break is going to be important.”

The two weeks he decided to leave on the table? That’d be this week and next week. And Trickett was named the starter last week. The Mountaineers absolutely will gather these next two weeks to do football stuff together. Essentially, they’ll practice … without coaches. And they’ll do it with a guy named the starting quarterback and trumpeted for his leadership.

It made sense before, but looking at it that way, it makes a little more sense now than before.