I’ve no idea what to expect on senior day when Bill Nevin clears his throat and announces Skyler Howard to the crowd one last time. I’m ready for anything. I suspect Howard is, too.

For what it’s worth, Howard wasn’t available for reporters this week, and I wouldn’t make a meal out of that. West Virginia instead named four permanent captains for the 2016 season, and those fifth-year seniors — Justin Arndt, Tyler Orlosky, Noble Nwachukwu and Daikiel Shorts — were the ones with whom we spoke.

Orlosky, as you might imagine, was asked what he thought.

“This is probably one of the times I should keep my mouth shut. I’m just going to say I don’t have a comment on what he did. It’s his own right to do what he wants. The best thing I can do is support him. He has the support of his teammates and his coaches. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I wouldn’t rather have anyone behind me snapping the ball to.”

Howard is divisive. His name evokes emotions and opinions. We can have level and exaggerated conversations about him. I’m not telling you anything new. What I think is forgotten — hold up … let me get under my desk here and type the rest of this post with one hand — is WVU could have done no better than Howard.

The Mountaineers needed and wanted a junior college recruit. They suspected someone might be called upon to play in 2014, and they were right, because Clint Trickett didn’t make it through the season. Ford Childress had a bad injury no one was sure he’d recover from, and he actually never made it to the 2014 season because of was suspended and later dismissed in the winter. William Crest was a freshman, and is sure seems like he came in with a bad shoulder. Paul Millard? He really did redshirt in 2014, when he was healthy, and then he walked away.

And what of these past two seasons? Crest isn’t even a quarterback today. Do you really believe Chris Chugunov or Cody Saunders would have WVU and/or Holgorsen in a better position today?

If you narrow the focus, which is to say you don’t make this about Dana Holgorsen’s quarterback recruiting — and I could, I promise, and I would probably surprise you — and you restrict it to what matters and to what happened in the 2014 class, then you understand Howard is what WVU needed and wanted. He’s 18-8 as the starter. He’s third in school history in total offense. And he’s one of two junior college quarterbacks who would play at a Power 5 school. The running game has evolved. The defense is winning games. But Howard is as big a reason as any other for why WVU is where and what it is.

A lot of people want to believe the Mountaineers could have done better than Howard, but that’s simply not accurate.