Dana Holgorsen all but named Skyler Howard his starting quarterback Saturday before practice at The Greenbrier — except he didn’t. Semantics are important, and the head coach said the junior was the “clear-cut No. 1 right now.” (Tuesday update: Dana stepped all over this on a Big 12 teleconference today and went out of his way to say Howard is not yet the starter and the competition is far from over.)

I don’t think that’s shocking, and while I was mildly surprised to see Holgorsen so resolute so early, was this not coming? After all, Holgorsen said this a week earlier, and it ought to have registered right then and there: “We talked about this a little bit, but we try to recruit more athletic guys. I’m not going to sacrifice the passing ability, but I will sacrifice probably some height and the arm strength for the athleticism. That’s what we started recruiting.”

You only need to watch a little bit of a WVU practice to see that Howard doesn’t look or throw like the other three options, but that those other three options aren’t as smooth and collected as Howard is.

The other part you can’t ignore is Howard has, by far, the most experience wherever it matters. Chris Chugunov and David Sills are freshmen, and Holgorsen has grown to lump William Crest in with that first-year grouping, as well, because Crest really didn’t do much last season. The staff shut him down and Howard took off and got a ton of action late in the regular season and then before and during the bowl. He’s the guy, and it’s apparent over at the Puskar Center.

Is there a point when you say Skyler is the guy?
Probably. I don’t think I need to say it to the team. I think they understand where we are at with it. It’s all about the development of the young guys. Is any of the young guys going to get enough reps and make enough plays where they warrant a first team rep. Right now, the answer is no, so Skyler is the guy.

This is similar to last season, when Clint Trickett cleared whatever barriers he had to clear so that he was named the starter in June. It would seem Howard is rounding the last turn here, and who knows what happens during and after Saturday’s spring game. What’s clear is this: A lot will have to go wrong for Howard to lose his grip on this, and so far, he’s the guy who’s made a lot go right to get where he is.