West Virginia has seen a boatload of activity this offseason, from coaching staff changes to transfer portal additions and departures.
At arguably the most important position in all of sports, quarterback WVU is graduating Garrett Greene, who has declared for the NFL Draft as a wide receiver and Ryder Burton has transferred to UAB. The Mountaineers are returning Nicco Marchiol, who has been the next guy up for a couple of seasons now, and Khalil Wilkins, who was a true freshman in 2024 and signed Scotty Fox as an incoming freshman.
However, West Virginia and head coach Rich Rodriguez may not have been fully content with their QB room as they added not one but two quarterbacks through the transfer portal. Jaylen Henderson, formerly of Texas A&M and Fresno State, as well as Max Brown, formerly of Charlotte and Florida, both committed to WVU this offseason.
ESPN recently released an article predicting starting quarterbacks for every Power-4 program next season where they gave their pick for who will be under center for the Mountaineers in 2025. Despite the new competition, they still predicted Marchiol, who is 4-0 as a starter at WVU, to start.
“Rich Rodriguez is inheriting a talented lefty he can build his offense around in his return to Morgantown. Marchiol has stepped in to make four starts over the past two seasons when Garrett Greene dealt with injuries and went 4-0 in those opportunities,” the multiple contributors explained for why he’ll start.
As for the competition, they said, “Rodriguez hasn’t seemed interested in supplanting Marchiol with a portal pickup for Year 1 but has brought in two backups who possess starting experience in Jaylen Henderson (Texas A&M) and Max Brown (Charlotte).”
In his career, Marchiol, a rising redshirt junior, has played in 19 games, completing 71 passes on 122 attempts (58.2%) for 742 yards, eight touchdowns, and five interceptions. The lefty has also shown his ability to do it with his legs from time to time, rushing for 285 yards and three touchdowns in his career.
While there is still expected to be competition for the starting job, Marchiol, who has three seasons under his belt in the old gold and blue is currently the favorite to be West Virginia’s signal caller in 2025.
