It’s not clear what William Crest is doing this spring, except that he’s, like, the No. 3 quarterback, but perhaps that’s the ingenuity of it all. He’s still playing receiver and catching punts, but he’s also playing running back and learning to take those hits, and if you never know where he’s starting or going on a given play, then WVU has accomplished something.

It’s the continuation of this prolonged project, and that’s fine. The spring precedes the fall, and if all goes well now, he’ll be a factor then, and this all seems to be on track.

Someone asked Crest the other day if he was aware of what Tavon Austin did at WVU and specifically against Oklahoma, perhaps unaware Crest and Austin went to the same high school. Crest didn’t flinch, which seems to be a top talent of his, and he said that’s the reason he’s rowing the way he is. “I think that’s what Coach Holgorsen is doing right now. He’s the mastermind behind all of it. I don’t question the mastermind.”

This can’t be easy for Crest, and he admits it is not, but he is making it seem so inconsequential and purposeful as he rotates from one position to another.

Maybe his time on campus hasn’t followed the script. Maybe there wasn’t a script. Crest doesn’t know. He’s not worried about that. What he finds is what he’s concerned with and what others are concerned with are quite different.

“Some people do blow it out of proportion. ‘You’re a quarterback.’ Yeah, I’m a quarterback. I understand that. But if I can change the game and help the team out, that’s what I can do,” he said. “I’m not going to sit around here and be selfish, like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do that. They’re not giving me what I want.’

“I’m not a selfish person. You can’t be selfish in this game. You’ve got to be willing to help the team out.”