The availability of West Virginia starting quarterback Garrett Greene for this weekend’s Big 12 Conference opening matchup against Texas Tech is undetermined.
Greene, who was injured just five offensive snaps into the matchup against Pittsburgh on a designed quarterback run, isn’t expected to practice the first two days of the week. Overall, his availability is going to come down to whether or not he is able to utilize his best skill set in his athleticism.
“It’s an ankle injury and a lot of it has to do with how he responds over the next couple days,” head coach Neal Brown said. “...It’s too early to tell.”
Brown isn’t putting any sort of number on the reps that Greene would need in order to play but it simply comes down to if he isn’t able to move around like himself, he won’t get the starting nod. But so far Greene is doing everything in his power in terms of treatment to get ready for the game.
If Greene can’t suit up, the starting spot would go to redshirt freshman Nicco Marchiol who finished the Pittsburgh game leading the Mountaineers to a 17-6 win.
In that heated rivalry contest, Marchiol predictably wasn’t asked to do a lot with limited practice reps throughout the week but completed 6-9 passes for 60-yards and a touchdown while engineering the offense.
Thar was by design as while the coaching staff had a plan for the backup just in case based off what he performed well in spring and fall camp along with what the data said he could do, the call sheet shrunk based off how the game against the Panthers developed and the focus was running the football.
Related: Marchiol steps up in career moment for Backyard Brawl win
That wouldn’t be the case this week as Marchiol is expected to take all of the practice reps with the starters the first two days of the week and has the trust of those in the locker room.
“He was probably super excited to get in and calm his nerves and let him know we’re still here and we’ve got his back,” starting right tackle Doug Nester said.
That will include a more open play book including the use of shifts and motions, which Marchiol hadn’t practiced much, as well as a plays designed to for his skill set. That is in large part because the backup only receives around 25-percent of the reps weekly but this week while Greene is sidelined Marchiol will be getting a much larger share.
“This will be the first opportunity he has if Garrett can’t go where he has to prepare for it and think about it. The biggest thing for us is calm him down and keep the game plan simple for us and find some ways to get some easy completions and get his confidence going,” coordinator Chad Scott said.
That should allow him to be more prepared if called upon and Scott has seen how much of a football junkie that Marchiol has been during his time with the program and expects him to spend a lot of time this week going over things with quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan.
“He will be more prepared to go out there and execute the game plan and do what he’s supposed to do,” Scott said.
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.
Some of that is directly related to timing and comfort level, but the Mountaineers believe that won’t be an issue if he is given the keys to the car against the Red Raiders. It’s the second time that Marchiol has stepped in for an injured Greene and both times he has led the Mountaineers to a win.
“You will see a much, much improved play by Nicco when he gets the majority of the reps,” Brown said.
As far as the rest of the depth chart, true freshman Sean Boyle would serve as the backup if Greene were indeed ruled out and will step into those practice reps this week. The positive news is that Boyle has some experience in developmental practices where he gets 11-on-11 reps in scrimmage situations.
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