Smith's Injury: How It Affects West Virginia's Quarterbacks' Development

When West Virginia concluded its 2009 season, they were looking at highly touted sophomore quarterback Eugene Smith to be the quarterback the next three years.

However, after breaking a bone in his foot during off-season workouts, Smith has been limited in what he can do during practice. He was scheduled to be the starter and was set to get the majority of the repetitions with the first-team offense.

Smith works with the first team during drills, but is not allowed to participate in the team scrimmages.

Red-shirt sophomore Coley White has taken all of the snaps during West Virginia's scrimmages. While he has shown improvement at the quarterback position, he will likely not be a quarterback when fall camp arrives.

West Virginia signed two highly recruited quarterbacks in Barry Brunetti and Jeremy Johnson. White was going to move to wide receiver when the two freshmen arrived.

With Smith injured, it not only hampers his development as a quarterback, but also White's as a receiver.

While Smith is still participating in drills, he is not allowed to run the option, or to roll out on pass plays. He has looked great during the skeleton drill, which is a 7-on-7 drill that does not feature defensive linemen.

By not being able to scrimmage, Smith is not seeing a pass rush. Even though he played the majority of the Marshall and Florida State games, he is still a young quarterback, and needs all the repetitions he can get during spring practices.

Smith's injury put a White in a tough position. With Smith out, White has taken all the repetitions during the scrimmages. These repetitions have helped him develop as a quarterback, but have not allowed him to work-out as a wide receiver.

Since Smith and White are the only quarterbacks on scholarship, White has been the only quarterback to play in the scrimmages. If there were a third quarterback, he would be able to split his time between quarterback and wide receiver.

With not practicing this spring at wide receiver, White is now further behind in his development. This would have been a crucial time for him to work-out as a wide receiver, with there not being as many players in spring practices as opposed to in the fall.

Smith's injury hampered his development at quarterback and White's as a wide receiver. While it's not an ideal situation, both Smith and White have made the best of it, and both have performed well.

When fall camp opens, it will be Smith taking the repetitions as the first team quarterback, and an injury to him will cause one of the true freshmen to play earlier than expected.