West Virginia looks toward fall QB competition
West Virginia released an early pre-fall camp depth chart which didn’t list a projected starter at quarterback.
That was certainly by design as head coach Neal Brown envisions a true competition at the position this fall between transfer quarterback JT Daniels and the three holdovers in redshirt sophomore Garrett Greene, redshirt freshman Will Crowder and true freshman Nicco Marchiol.
The Mountaineers added Daniels, the former USC and Georgia signal caller, after the program wrapped up spring ball and that was intentional. The goal was to allow those three young quarterbacks to battle it out in the spring to give them more reps to see where the program was at in that room.
“I thought if we added a guy at mid-term it would stunt the development of our young guys because we really believe in our young quarterbacks,” he said. “…We wanted to go through spring and let those guys get the reps and see.”
Brown sees Greene as an athletic option that brings a live arm to the table, while Crowder is a dual-threat quarterback that is very intelligent. Finally, with Marchiol there is immense upside after he was one of the top quarterback recruits in the nation a season ago.
Daniels might be the perceived favorite heading into fall camp considering his experience at the major college level and the success he has had when he has been able to stay on the field. But it shouldn’t be assumed that the job will simply be handed to him, according to Brown.
"He's been tremendous. He's got to go win the job. That's something we were really clear about him during the recruiting process, that nothing was going to be handed to him,” Brown said. “He has to go win the job. I'm really proud of how he's handled it.”
And while the potential competition will be at the forefront once fall camp opens, determining who will emerge from that is something that won’t be nearly as difficult to ascertain. That’s because quarterback competitions often clear themselves up on their own through the course of practices.
The winner will be the signal caller that is able to be the most productive when it comes to scoring touchdowns as well as who the team as a whole believes in to lead them.
“Quarterback competitions when they're won, it's evident. Your team knows it. It's not like you have to go out a social media announcement or stand in front of the team and say this is our starter,” he said. “When a quarterback wins that competition it’s very clear.”
“Everybody wants to talk about it but they’re really probably the easiest to choose because it is so clear,” he added.
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