Why Rodriguez May Consider Starting Jaylen Henderson Again Over Khalil Wilkins

Rich Rodriguez is desperately searching for answers at the quarterback position, and while redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins provided a spark and flashed some promise in the loss to Utah, it doesn't necessarily mean he'll be handed the keys to the offense when the team heads to Provo for this Friday's matchup versus BYU.

Why?

Well, for starters, you want to give your team the best chance to win, and having a veteran presence in the huddle may be what best serves this offense. Jaylen Henderson did not look good in his first start by any stretch of the imagination, but that Utah front absolutely whipped WVU's o-line. That's been the story all season, but Utah's front is probably the best the Mountaineers will face this season.

Henderson could get a second crack at starting, or maybe even Max Brown comes out of nowhere and gets the nod. He did come in at the end of the game against Utah, but exited a little banged up after running the ball a couple of times.

If this is the case and Henderson or Brown start, that doesn't mean we won't see Wilkins. Odds are, we'll see multiple quarterbacks, regardless of who trots out with the offense first. Rich Rod has used at least two quarterbacks in all five games this season, and I'd be stunned if that trend didn't continue as he searches for the right guy.

What you have to keep in mind is that Wilkins still has very little experience, and he just got his first real burn last week and exited with a confidence boost. Making your first-ever career start on a short week, on the road, in that environment, against that team is an extremely difficult situation. I'm not completely ruling it out because with how the quarterbacks have been used this season, there's no telling who starts, who plays, and how much. However, Wilkins' confidence is something you want to be extremely careful with.

He may have a predetermined package of plays and if the game gets out of hand for the third straight week, then we may see a bunch of him in the second half.