Neal Brown is going to ultimately make the decision on who is named the starting quarterback for West Virginia this fall. But position coach Sean Reagan knows what he wants to find in that signal caller.

The Mountaineers currently have a battle unfolding between redshirt junior Garrett Greene and redshirt freshman Nicco Marchiol with both taking equal reps throughout the course of fall camp.

As to what qualities will ultimately make the difference in the fight for the starting job?

“Decision making. One-hundred percent decision making,” Reagan said.

The quarterback coach wants to see his pupils have a 90-percent grade or higher in all decision-making processes which includes run reads, run-pass-options and the pass game. That doesn’t include completion percentage for obvious reasons with all the factors involved but the key is to be smart and do what they’re supposed to do with the football when it’s in their hands.

That 90-percent mark seems high, but it is obtainable to Reagan considering that as a group the quarterback room is operating at around 86-percent right now. Both Greene and Marchiol have had that mark in practice on an installation day which is tough to do.

Now they will put that to the test in the scrimmage Saturday night.

Right now, around 95-percent of the offense is in place and most of the mistakes that have occurred have come in those situations where that new stuff is introduced. On the encouraging side of things, Reagan believes he can count on one hand the number of repeated mistakes which is a drastic improvement over when he was last the quarterbacks coach during the 2021 season.

“That’s a drastic improvement,” he said.

On the plus side, both quarterbacks are athletic which means that the same plays are being asked to operate the offense in the same way which requires only one plan. That wasn’t the case in the past with quarterbacks that offered very different skill sets.

West Virginia doesn’t require their quarterbacks to have a lot of checks outside tagging routes or possible run checks, but the goal is to get the ball out and accurately when doing so.

As far as each Marchiol has proven to be a very talented quarterback and while there have been ups and downs this fall, he has shown the ability to bounce back when he’s made bad plays. That requires resiliency and maturity which has allowed him to show improvement.

Greene is very athletic and has shown what he can do with his legs, but he’s shown a lot of improvement with his eyes. Now the next step is getting him to not think as much and react.

“If we can get those plays eliminated then he has a chance to be really good,” Reagan said.

Reagan is excited over where his group is at and understands that time is on his side for now but the experience that both quarterbacks were able to get last year has them both in a better spot than where each of them were this time last year. Now, it’s about which one can show the best command.

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