We are nine days away from a quarterback competition at West Virginia and also the start of spring football. That is, of course, the proper order when it comes to college football and its premier position. And when you're following a Big 12 school that just raised an NFL draft pick, they eyeballs go where they're trained to go.

The trick of this arrangement between incumbents Jack Allison and Trey Lowe and newcomer Austin Kendall is that it is entirely indefinite. This could be a brief ordeal or it could last throughout the spring. It might be decided in the summer and it might take the whole preseason. No one knows until Neal Brown knows.

"I know you can ask this a bunch of different ways, which I respect, but basically, here's my deal on quarterback competitions: When it is clear, it is clear," he said. "I've been involved in a bunch of these throughout my time as a play-caller, and when it's clear, it's clear. There's a time when you name that guy, but the best answer I can give you is when it's clear, it's clear."

The last time WVU had a situation like this it was also a three-person competition, and it wasn't clear until the fifth game and the third starter of the season. That season, by the way, was 2013, and the Mountaineers went 4-8 as they began with Paul Millard, pivoted to Ford Childress and then bet on Clint Trickett, which did pay off a year later. He was the clear starter in 2014. Skyler Howard was the clear pick the following two years and Will Grier was the clear choice these past two years.

Brown has no such ascendency. Allison started the bowl game and looked very much like a quarterback who had only a brief amount of time to prepare for his first college start. Lowe, who's been moonlighting as a reserve outfielder with the baseball team, played parts of the bowl and gave the offense a different look. Kendall played in eight games in two seasons and three years at Oklahoma and is just as much an unknown as the other three no matter his pedigree, because neither Lincoln Riley nor two Heisman Trophy winners are here to help him now.

Brown said his practices are structured to throw the ball enough so everyone gets an amount of reps the coaches can learn from, and the so-called No. 1 will change from one day to the next -- unless, of course, it's clear one day during the four weeks of spring practice that Brown has his guy.

Along the way, he'll have his eye on what he calls the "non-negotiables." Character. Leadership. Accuracy. The ability to keep a play alive.

"This is the way I describe it: You have your old-school point guards in basketball, and basically all they did was distribute the ball," he said. "They came down, called the play and distributed the ball. Now, you have your new-age point guards, the guys that are playing in the NBA now. (James) Harden, he has the ball in his hands. For all intents and purposes, he's playing point guard, but what's he doing? He's creating shots for others, but he's also creating shots for himself. It's the same thing for a quarterback. A quarterback being a distributor all the time, that still applies, but he has to create his own, because sometimes we're not going to block them all. He has to be able to create opportunities for himself. So, accuracy and being able to keep plays alive."

But as WVU knows quite well right now after witnessing a 31-game regular season and just 12 wins, the point guard must be cautious about creativity, persnickety about precision and adamant about keeping the ball with the offense so the offense keeps moving. Decisions matters because each one comes with consequences that will serve to differentiate the three options.

"I should have said that. That's part of a given, too, honestly," Brown said. "But decision-making really clears itself out. What I'm saying on that front is if you're making bad decisions -- you have pre-snap and post-snap decisions, so, pre-snap decisions, you're getting yourself in the wrong plays, and post-snap decisions, those are ending up as turnovers if they're bad."