It is still up in the air whether WVU starting quarterback, Garrett Greene will be healthy and ready to play against Arizona on Saturday. Should Greene be healthy, Neal Brown has stated he will be the starter, but if not, it will be Nicco Marchiol making his second career start.
WVU Offensive Coordinator Chad Scott was asked during his media availability on Monday about some of the things that Marchiol does better than Greene that the team will be able to use should he be the starter. Scott instantly turned to the backup’s ability to read the RPO game.
“Nicco has great feel for the run pass option game, tremendous feel for it. He did it in high school at an elite level and it’s something too that we can do a great job of keeping hits off of him with that free that dips down into the box that we can’t account for.”
All offseason the entire coaching staff including Scott have talked about the growth of Marchiol’s game that gives the team confidence in him to run the same game plans as they would with Greene in the game. While Scott did once again say that the plan would not change if Marchiol has to start, he did say the RPOs would become more effective.
“With his ability to throw effective RPOs at that guy at an efficient level, it helps us out a lot. Those are some of the ideas that we bring to the table for him because because he sees it really well, feels great about it, and can execute at a high level.”
Scott afterwards pointed to the touchdown passes Marchiol threw against Oklahoma State and late in the game against Kansas State as both being RPO plays the quarterback executed on. When asked if Greene does not get as many RPO calls as Marchiol would, Scott said, “yeah he doesn’t see it as well as Nicco does.”
Marchiol is 1-0 as a starter in his collegiate career with the one win coming a season ago at home against Texas Tech. The Arizona native threw for 78 yards, one touchdown and two interception in the 20-13 win. He also led the team in rushing yards with 72 on 15 carries.
Playing his high school football days in the state of Arizona, Marchiol said he would consider the game against the Wildcats a homecoming game where he will have a lot of family in attendance. Kickoff for WVU vs. Arizona is set for 7:00 p.m. ET and can be viewed on FS1.
