Rich Rodriguez discussed the leadership he expects to see from his quarterbacks as spring ball winds down and the team prepares to head into camp this summer.
The Mountaineers are expected to go into the 2025 season with a packed quarterback room headlined by Nicco Marchiol and Jaylen Henderson. In a media session on Saturday, Rodriguez expressed the leadership that he expects from the position and how important it will be to have a leader in that room.
Marchiol has seen action over the past two seasons, filling for injuries to Garrett Greene. In the games he started, he has led the team to a perfect record. Henderson is a redshirt senior who transferred to WVU after spending the last two years at Texas A&M.
“You want someone to lead the team but everyone always worries about leadership during practice, that is what coaches are there for, we are supposed to lead in practice, during a scrimmage, games when coaches aren’t around, summertimes, locker rooms, that when you hope to have some leadership,” Rodriguez said.
With spring practice coming to an end in the coming weeks, the coaching staff will be met with difficult decisions, making cuts to the roster and determining who will be the 105 players that will be on the roster to begin the year.
“July is the coach’s time off, a few weeks in July before camp starts, it’ll be the strength staff and the players, and that’s when the quarterbacks and whoever has a little bit of a challenge of leadership,” Rodriguez said.
It will be important for a leader to emerge in the quarterback room after the end of spring practices going into the season.
