Last offseason, there was a battle for the starting quarterback job, but this offseason, Garrett Greene is the clear-cut starter. However, Nicco Marchiol has not completely taken a back seat.
Something that has been talked about a lot this offseason is the improvements Marchiol has made both in his play and mental approach. In 2023 when Greene went down with an injury in the Backyard Brawl, Marchiol stepped in helping the Mountaineers to victory in that game and against Texas Tech the next week.
“Nicco (Marchiol) came in got a lot of quality reps with the ones (during practice Saturday), which we wanted to do so that that was that was good,” Head coach Neal Brown said. “He’s much improved. I think you all saw that in the spring, you’ve seen that when you’ve been out there and I was glad he got some reps.”
Last season when called upon, Marchiol completed 30 passes on 53 attempts for 247 yards, two touchdowns and threw three interceptions. On the ground, he added 133 rushing yards and one touchdown on 38 carries.
“I fully trust Nicco. In the last 12 months he is a completely changed quarterback, mentally, physically, throwing the ball, huge mentally. I fully trust him if he had to go in and play and I tell him that,” Quarterbacks coach Tyler Allen said. “He knows the two games that he played last year were not good enough and that he didn’t play very well and he knows that. And he’s ac completely different quarterback now. If we were to get into a situation where he needed to play, I fully trust him with the offense and there shouldn’t be any changes.”
If Greene is unable to play, Allen is confident in Marchiol’s ability to run the same offense. The two quarterbacks have a similar style, the only different is handness.
“If there was a situation where Garrett can’t play for a play or something and Nicco had to go in there would be no change in the offense. We could run it completely how we should with Nicco in the game and there should be no changes,” Allen said.
Heading into his redshirt sophomore season, Marchiol is looking to be ready after an offseason filled with extreme growth. With multiple seasons under his belt as the backup, sitting and profoundly learning West Virginia’s offense, when he is eventually handed the reigns it should have been very beneficial to the lefty quarterback.
