West Virginia QB Marchiol making strides
West Virginia redshirt sophomore quarterback Nicco Marchiol will be the backup this season, but this spring is still critical for his continued development.
Marchiol appeared in nine games this past season and completed 30-53 passes for 247 yards with a pair of touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Modest numbers, but his importance to the roster was magnified early in the year when starter Garrett Greene went down with an ankle injury.
Marchiol stepped in after the first series of the Pitt game and led the Mountaineers to a 17-6 win over the Panthers and then started the following week in a 20-13 win over Texas Tech. It wasn’t the flashiest of appearances, but Marchiol was able to do enough to secure some critical early wins.
The experience was invaluable for Marchiol whose understanding of the offense is a critical component if the Mountaineers need to call on the redshirt sophomore.
As a quarterback, Marchiol has high-end ability and can run the football in a physical style. He is good at delivering the ball between the hashes with velocity and throws a good deep ball despite the fact that didn’t necessarily manifest itself in the game when he was called upon.
Marchiol was a highly regarded high school option who has continued to make improvements during his time on campus as he’s seen the biggest jumps of late.
“He doesn’t have as much stress on him and that’s going to allow him to play more freely. He had a great December,” head coach Neal Brown said. “In all that bowl prep and scrimmages he did a really nice job.”
Not all prospects develop at the same pace and Marchiol is an example of that as he has become much more comfortable as a college quarterback.
"His eyes were in windows and he was looking at safeties," position coach Tyler Allen said. "He's really come a long way in anticipating throws."
The biggest jumps have come in the arena of simply understanding defenses as well as schematically what the Mountaineers are doing not only in the pass game but the run game which takes some time. It's started to click this spring.
"Starts with his preparation which sounds really simple. He's matured as a football player so when he turns on the video he knows what to watch. He knows how to prepare he's done a good job of asking for the scripts so he can be prepared going into each practice," Brown said.
That was evident on the first day of practice as Marchiol made a touchdown throw to EJ Horton in a tight end situation by looking at the coverage and the grass fit it in there.
"It looked like a scary throw but it was a phenomenal throw. It was the right decision and he went for a touchdown," coordinator Chad Scott said. "I ran out there and celebrated with him like it was his birthday. Because it's those little things like that when it's something you harp on over and over and they don't get it but when they finally do that's got to be the biggest moment."
West Virginia plans to continue to be intentional this spring with the reps given to Marchiol in order for him to continue to display growth in his backup role.
The main focus will be the continued development of pre-snap identification as well as decision-making once the ball is snapped.
"Pre-snap he has a lot better understanding of what defenses are trying to do to him but I've been really pleased," Brown said. "Nicco would be right in that conversation as the most improved player on offense."
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