That man in the hat is Georgia Southern offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Doug Ruse, who last season, his first at the FBS level, was a finalist for the Broyles Award. Spend a minute looking over his career and note the variety of quarterbacks he’s mentored and the variety of stats they’ve accumulated. Big throwers and now big runners, and I could spend a lot more time detailing the changes Willie Fritz made when moving from Sam Houston State to Georgia Southern. (Warning: I still might.)

But there’s one thing that I couldn’t shake, and I’m glad I didn’t.

Ruse has an eye for quarterbacks and a knack for getting the most out of them, but I had to wonder what it was like doing what he does at this level. It’s got to be difficult to recruit to that position, and Ruse was also changing his recruiting parameters by changing offensive schemes — ostensibly, it turned out.

The pitch is a little bit different, to be sure, but isn’t everybody’s pitch different? What we find is that a quarterback whisperer like Dana Holgorsen has changed his requirements as well and that the general trend in the college game shows WVU and the Eagles have some similarities in recruiting their marquee position.

“I think everyone across the country now — I shouldn’t say everyone across the country but a lot of people I’ve recognized here lately — won’t sacrifice the athleticism and the footwork and foot speed aspects of it because they want to be more multiple with the quarterback run game, and not just the run game, but wanting a guy who’s able to get himself out of trouble so I don’t have to sit there and call the perfect play all the time,” Holgorsen said.

WVU’s opponent in the 7:30 p.m. game at Mountaineer Field goes about playing offense much differently. Georgia Southern runs an option offense, which relies on the quarterback to make decisions to keep or unload the ball.

How the Eagles recruit quarterbacks, though, is somewhat similar.

“If he shows quickness and quick feet, we can teach him what we’re doing, even if he’s got very little experience doing it,” said Georgia Southern quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Doug Ruse. “There are certain things he’s got to have naturally to fit what we’re doing, but the guy doesn’t have to be a burner. Foot quickness and the ability to change directions would probably take priority over straight-line speed.”

The Eagles ran the ball on 81 percent of their snaps and a quarterback had the most carries in 2014, when they finished 9-3 and won the Sun Belt Conference with an 8-0 record in their first season as a FBS member. Some modern adjustments to the non-traditional offense help target and secure quarterbacks.

The offense operates almost exclusively from the pistol or shotgun. The Eagles use spread formations, which are also increasingly common in high school, and those formations combined with the deep snaps create alleys for the quarterback to see and exploit as a runner.

“We really don’t set parameters as far as physical measurements go,” Ruse said. “Everyone would love to have a guy who’s 6-2 and runs a 4.5 40, but there aren’t many of those dudes out there. Obviously, our quarterback has to be an athlete, but there aren’t too many schools out there recruiting, to use an old term, the prototypical pro-style quarterback. Just about everyone’s running their quarterback.”

Savannah Morning News photo