This time last year, West Virginia football did not have a quarterback. Fast forward one year and the starter-backup roles are defined, but there are still specific areas each are focusing on this spring.
Head coach Neal Brown has what every head coach wants — no drama at quarterback. That came after Garrett Greene earned the starting job last fall and helped lead WVU to a 9-4 mark in 2023. Greene wasn’t alone though, as backup Nicco Marchiol played the majority of two games, starting one of them, while he was 2-0 in both those games.
Last season Garrett Greene showed flashes but also showed where he needed to get better in the offseason. Greene was last in the Big 12 in completion percentage, but at the same time threw the fewest number of interceptions out of any quarterback in the league.
“For Garrett it’s all about accuracy. he’s done a great job this winter with our people here, but also with his quarterback coach that he works with on his own. He’s got to get his feet in a better position,” Brown said.
Brown went back to last fall when he knew there were mechanical fixes that needed to be made with Greene, but those fixes couldn’t come overnight. Brown said starting in January they made a nine-month plan with Greene and knows there will be ups and down.s
“Some things we really knew what the issue was last fall but you can’t fix those in a week. What we did at the start of January, we really kind of attacked this as a nine-month [process]. We play the last couple days in August so we got that whole time to get ready,” Brown said. “There’s gong to be some ups and downs because he’s changing some things with his feet and some of his arm angles and things like that. We knew it was going to be kind of playing the long game but he’s got to be more accurate and I think he can.”
Brown related Greene to quarterback Bo Nix who played at Auburn and then at Oregon. Early in his career Nix was not the most accurate passer, as in his first three seasons his completion percentage was 59.4 percent. This past season, Nix’s completion percentage was at 77.4 percent.
“I think Garrett is fully capable of making a big jump in completion percentage. So that’s the number one thing for him is continue not only to grasp what we’re doing offensively, but he’s got to get his completion percentage better and then getting some of the touch throws down,” Brown said.
As far as Marchiol, he is entering year three at WVU, and that has allowed him to get fully comfortable, says Brown.
“We’re going to be intentional about getting Nicco a lot of the first team reps too. He is much more comfortable as a college football player. Playing that position (quarterback) is really hard. Sometimes that happens really fast for people and sometimes it takes a little time. It’s taken some time for him,” Brown said.
Brown highlighted during WVU’s prep for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl is when he saw a real jump for Marchiol as far as his performance.
“He’s still undefeated as starter, he’s done some good things, but it’s taken a little bit of time. Just understanding defense and understanding schematically what we’re doing not only in thee pass game but in the run game, he’s much more comfortable,” Brown said.
This spring will start to focus on more specific areas within the quarterback position rather than just learning the offense Brown said of Marchiol.
“I think he’s a little more at ease because he’s more confident and he doesn’t maybe have as much stress on him and it’s going to allow him to play more freely. He had a great December. In all of our bowl prep and all the scrimmages and stuff, he really did a nice job. With him, it’s pre-snap identification and post-snap, it’s decision making. He’s made strides, but that’s what we’re really focused on in the spring,” Brown said.
