Clint Trickett's Long Journey to Success and a Life in Coaching
It took until his senior year of college, but West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett finally has a team to call his own.
Trickett's journey back to West Virginia has been well documented. The son of Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett spent his early teenage years around the Mountaineers program when his father was an assistant under Rich Rodriguez from 2001-06.
But the former 3-star recruit signed with Florida State, not West Virginia, in 2010. A career backup, Trickett sat behind EJ Manuel and transferred in the spring of 2013 before Jameis Winston was inevitably named the starter.
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However, it was the stress of playing under his father, not playing time, that caused Trickett to finish his career elsewhere. "The working environment was uncomfortable with my dad on staff," Trickett told Bruce Feldman, then of CBSSports.com, in January.
Now the main man for the Mountaineers, Trickett has led his team by his actions and his words.
At 6-2, the Mountaineers are ranked No. 20 in the first College Football Playoff standings and host No. 7 TCU on Saturday, with ESPN's College GameDay in attendance. More importantly, West Virginia controls its destiny in the Big 12 title hunt.
Sacrifice
Trickett was willing to do anything for the teammates he'd just met. He didn't know them well, having just transferred as a grad student from Florida State. So he took the "show-me" route instead—and took hit after hit and played the 2013 season with one good arm.
"If they saw me get hurt," Trickett said, "take a couple of shots a game and play at 50 percent, they'd say 'He's going to sacrifice his body for this team.'"
"Sacrifice" is an interesting, albeit accurate, choice of words, as it felt like Trickett was, in essence, sacrificed to blitzing defenders regularly. At a listed weight of 185 pounds, that's a lot of punishment.
In his interview with Feldman, Trickett acknowledged that he played through most of last season—a disappointing 4-8 campaign for the Mountaineers—with a torn labrum, which he sustained in his first start against Oklahoma State.
That same month, he sent out a picture from his Twitter account, which has since been deleted, showing the gruesome result post-surgery.
Nine months later, Trickett is 100 percent healthy and ranks sixth in the country with 2,763 passing yards. He's played for his father and with a torn labrum. TCU he can handle.
Building Relationships
Trickett returned to a place he knew with an opportunity to start as a grad student. For someone who grew up around the West Virginia program, though, Trickett felt like a stranger upon his return to Morgantown in 2013.
"I came here last year and people didn't know me," Trickett said. "But I knew if, given the time, [my teammates and I] could build a relationship."
The chemistry between Trickett and his teammates didn't come right away. Chemistry was an issue in general for West Virginia a season ago. Between myriad injuries and a revolving door at quarterback with Trickett, Paul Millard and Ford Childress, the Mountaineers couldn't consistently get things to work on offense. As a result, West Virginia averaged 26 points a game.
"That timing and that rapport did not exist at any time last year," head coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Trickett's shoulder injury didn't allow him to physically develop that timing with his receivers in the offseason. "I wasn't able to competitively throw until right before camp started," Trickett said. So, he did everything else he possibly could.
He watched spring practices from the sidelines and a coach's point of view. Though he couldn't actually practice, Trickett made sure he stayed as mentally sharp as possible. Trickett essentially doubled up on his "film sessions" by watching film and then watching live-action practices. "You hear the term mental reps," Trickett explained, "well, there were a lot of mental reps."
He also spent the offseason getting to know his teammates on a deeper level. Mike Casazza of The Charleston Daily Mail wrote in August of the car rides Trickett would give leading receiver Kevin White in the offseason. It was that time, traveling together, that the two really built their relationship:
"It was West Virginia’s quarterback who came up with clever way to spend more time with his big receiver, Kevin White. Trickett was the one who said he’d drive 20 or so minutes out of his way after a brief getaway in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Allentown, where he’d pick up White and take him back to campus. He knew they’d be in the car for about five hours and they could make the time count.
“I got to know Clint outside of football,” White said. “We talked about life stuff. It helped us bond and get to know each other better.”
They talked football, too, and went over the 2013 season, how they fared in their first year with the Mountaineers, what they wanted to change as seniors this fall. They got to know what they thought of one another, of strengths and weaknesses, of what one could do to make the other better.
"
Through eight games, Trickett and White have connected 72 times for 1,047 yards and eight touchdowns. Not bad for a quarterback-receiver combo that hadn't truly practiced together in well over seven months.
While White is getting the Heisman consideration, Tricket has been a completely different player this year. He's thrown for more than 300 yards in seven of West Virginia's eight games, including a 511-yard performance in a 40-37 win over Maryland. (White had a season-high 216 yards against the Terps.) Trickett's "worst" performance? A modest 238 passing yards and two touchdowns in a 34-10 win over Oklahoma State.
The Leader
Trickett has, barring injury, five more games in a West Virginia uniform. He's been determined to make every one count. After a tough first season in Morgantown, Trickett has taken over as the team's unquestioned leader.
It starts on the field. With the exception of four attempts by freshman William Crest in garbage time against Towson, Trickett has thrown every pass for the Mountaineers in 2014. He is, without a doubt, the go-to guy for the Mountaineers offense.
Holgorsen added that Trickett's relationship with White tells just part of the story. The quarterback has a strong bond with second-leading receiver Mario Alford, who had a season-high 136 yards against Oklahoma State while White was held in check with just three catches for 27 yards.
Trickett also takes responsibility for the offensive line, which has been much-maligned over recent years. "At the Oklahoma State game, Clint huddled up those guys [before each drive] and talked to them for about 10 to 15 seconds to calm them down," Holgorsen said.
"That relationship exists with each and everybody on offense."
It's no surprise that a coach's son is the vocal leader of the team. Put simply, the Trickett family is made to coach. Trickett's brother, Travis Trickett, is the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Samford University.
Trickett wants to keep playing, whether in the NFL or Canadian Football League, for as long as he can. Football is what he knows. To him, it's fun. He's enjoying the moment because he knows it will eventually come to an end.
At that point, Trickett will follow the family path and get into coaching. "That's been set up for me from when I was born," he said. "A 9-to-5 job? I can't imagine doing that. February? That's signing day for me."
Four years ago, Trickett signed his National Letter of Intent with Florida State. In a couple of months, he'll leave West Virginia as one of the better turnaround stories in college football.
The journey has been long for Trickett, at times both awkward and painful. It certainly hasn't always gone according to script. It has, however, molded Trickett into the player he is today. And the coach he'll be one day.
"I wouldn't trade it for anything," he said.
Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com. Rankings reflect College Football Playoff standings. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.com.
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