When WVU football travels to Fort Worth to face TCU this Saturday, it is still unclear who will be starting at quarterback for West Virginia.
This past weekend it was Nicco Marchiol, as Garrett Greene was not ready to go yet following an ankle injury suffered in WVU’s week two win over Pitt.
“We’re going to see.,” Brown said of Greene’s status going forward. “Garrett, he was available on Saturday but he did not warm up very well. He would’ve emergency been ready but we would’ve had to help him out. I really don’t want to play him until he’s fully healthy. He didn’t make a whole lot of progress from Wednesday until Saturday. He worked with our trainers today (Monday).”
Brown said he is obviously going to monitor Greene as the week progresses and if he can practice on Tuesday and Wednesday in a normal capacity then he should be good to go against TCU on Saturday night.
“We’ll see what he has on Tuesday and Wednesday. I really don’t have anymore than that,” Brown added. “If he can practice full go on Tuesday and Wednesday then he’ll play. If he can’t then it will probably be the same because then it would give him two weeks from Thursday to really get healthy.”
As far as Marchiol is concerned though, Brown and the rest of the offensive coaching staff has been pleased with his development. Marchiol played basically the entirety of the Pitt game, the whole game against Texas Tech, as well as the entire second half against Duquesne.
“I thought he made a considerable jump from the first game from when he played against Pitt and really if you think about it he’s played quite a bit the last three weeks,” head coach Neal Brown said of Marchiol.
While Marchiol’s numbers aren’t the best, he has found a way to manage the game and win each of the past two weeks despite having untimely turnovers. Against Pitt, Marchiol fumbled in the red zone, and this week he threw two interceptions — one of which led to a field goal, but the other which bounced off a receiver.
This season Marchiol is 25 for 44 (57 percent) passing for 213 yards and two touchdowns along with two interceptions and a fumble. Marchiol has also rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown as well.
“I thought he handled it really well. I’m pretty sure he’ll tell you he didn’t have his best day but he found a way to win and that’s all that matters,” offensive coordinator Chad Scott said.
I thought he came out the next play had a clear mindset and had a win the next play mentality. I thought he did a good job of in the end helping us win that ballgame. “This was the first time where he had the entire week to prepare. He knew he was going to start, he knew he was going to be the guy. I thought he handled it very well.”
Overall for Marchiol is steady improvement according to Brown, including better decision making.
“I think he’s made steady improvement. I thought that really he threw some nice balls. The first pick was not a very good decision but I thought he threw the ball pretty well,” Brown said. “Overall, decision making was improved, not exactly what we liked but improved. He just didn’t get a whole lot of help. Our offensive skills guys got to help him out. Whether that’s making plays, making people miss, we just got to do a better job around him.”
“But I’m pleased with his improvement,” Brown added. “Can he play better, yes. Will he be better, I believe so. But I wasn’t displeased with how he played on Saturday. He gave us a chance.”
