West Virginia isn’t sure who is going to be the starting quarterback this week against Arizona.
That’s because the clear-cut starter in senior Garrett Greene is dealing with an injury that knocked him out of the Kansas State game at halftime and he did not practice Monday. West Virginia isn't quite clear on when the injury occurred to Greene and it could have been a cumulative effect with the number of hits that the signal caller took against the Wildcats in the first half of that contest.
West Virginia head coach Neal Brown admitted that it’s too early to tell where Greene is going to be at in terms of his availability at this point in the week, but the coaching staff is playing it by ear. However, the head man did say that if healthy Greene is the unquestioned starter for the Mountaineers.
“It’s too early in the week probably have more of an idea Wednesday or Thursday where he’s at,” Brown said.
If Greene isn’t able to suit up against the Wildcats, the starting role would fall to backup quarterback sophomore Nicco Marchiol. While he has played well in the role in the past, Marchiol is coming off a game where he completed just 6-13 passes for 58 yards and a touchdown in the second half against Kansas State.
“He didn’t play well. I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of where he’s at. Oklahoma State he played really well but he also had a great week of preparation that week,” Brown said.
That wasn’t the case last week as Marchiol missed practice Tuesday and wasn’t sharp when he returned, which translated over into the game when he was called upon. Brown doesn’t expect that to be the case if Marchiol is given the keys to the offense this week.
“I expect him to play at a high level,” he said.
If Marchiol is the starter, Brown has a good feel for plays that he has repped and would be able to build a successful game plan around his strengths with the obvious caveat that he is left-handed. That will obviously mean different rolls out but as far as concept calls there won't be too much variation.
But offensive coordinator Chad Scott believes that regardless of who gets the call, it shouldn’t be any different offensively for the Mountaineers and what they want to do when they have the football. That’s because Marchiol has already received a lot of reps and there shouldn’t be any issues with timing.
He also has much more maturity and understanding of the offense which has allowed him to play at a much higher level when called upon.
“It shouldn’t be any different. When he came in against Oklahoma State we didn’t change anything. He’ll be in a good mental frame this week and we shouldn’t change the game plan at all,” Scott said.
One area that Marchiol does excel in is the run-pass-option and his ability to throw RPOs off the free hitter is something that he sees well. In fact, both of his touchdown passes in Big 12 play have come off those.
Still, ultimately who gets the call is going to come down to how Greene feels and the coaching staff being careful about his health and putting him in the right situation to succeed. Because of his experience in the system, Brown didn’t rule out him playing with limited practice reps but that will have to play out.
“He does have a lot of experience but it’s difficult to play without practice time,” he said.
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