MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Neal Brown has 12 days to decide on West Virginia’s starting quarterback for its next matchup November 9 at Cincinnati after the Mountaineers return from their second and final bye week of the 2024 season.
Garrett Greene was the team’s top signal caller for the first seven games, but until he is healthy enough to return from an injury suffered during the first half of a loss to Kansas State on October 19, Brown says he won’t decide between Greene and Nicco Marchiol, who helped guide WVU to a 31-26 win at Arizona on Saturday in his second career start and first this season.
“The best way for me to answer that is I can’t give you an answer until Garrett’s healthy and he’s not healthy right now,” said Brown, who advised against asking about a quarterback competition in the opening statement of Monday’s media session, but went on to acknowledge it was fair. “It’s hard to lose jobs when you’re injured. I don’t think that’s a good practice. Nicco played well and I’m happy for him, but I don’t have any longterm answer for you right now.”
Marchiol completed 18-of-22 passes for 198 yards with two touchdowns and no turnovers against the Wildcats. He also rushed 11 times for 39 yards.
The redshirt sophomore completed WVU’s longest pass this season — a 54-yard touchdown to wideout Traylon Ray early in the fourth quarter that accounted for the winning score. He also completed a 3-yard TD pass to receiver Hudson Clement on fourth-and-goal in the first half, and allowed the Mountaineers to secure the victory with a late 9-yard completion to running back Jaylen Anderson on a third-and-7 play that led into the 2-minute warning.
“He was really efficient on third downs. I was pleased with him,” Brown said. “I think about where he was his last start against Texas Tech [in September 2023] and where he was this game. Over a year later, the progress he’s made as a quarterback and football player, I’m impressed with that and it’s a credit to his work.”
While the Mountaineers defeated the Red Raiders 20-13 in Marchiol’s only previous start, the left-hander completed 12-of-21 passes for 78 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions that day, though he did rush for 72 yards on 15 attempts.
Against Arizona, Marchiol settled in early and led the Mountaineers to scoring drives on each of their first three series and five of nine for the game. While WVU’s final possession didn’t produce points, it did generate the Mountaineers’ desired outcome as they twice converted on third down to prevent the Wildcats from getting the ball back with a chance to win after the home team had scored touchdowns on each of its previous three possessions.
“We really had two bad drives in the game and we only had nine possessions on purpose. We wanted to minimize the possessions in the game,” Brown said. “We tried to play with a lot of tempo early, which was successful, and then we wanted to try and control it, and I thought we were able to do that.
“Was pleased with how we played offensively, and the two [late] first downs so they didn’t have a chance. To convert a third-and-2 and third-and-7 on that last drive was huge. Weren’t perfect by any means, but we did some good things.”
After throwing four interceptions all of last season, Greene, who did not travel to Tucson, has been picked off eight times this year, including twice in four of his last five games. The only contest Greene wasn’t intercepted in since WVU’s first victory over Albany came in a 38-14 win at Oklahoma State — a contest that Greene attempted only 15 passes in and one that Marchiol played both halves in, including a first-half touchdown pass to Ray.
For the season, Greene, a senior, has completed 99-of-177 passes for 1,352 yards with nine touchdowns. He is the team’s second-leading rusher as well with 471 yards and three TDs.
Marchiol, meanwhile, has completed 28-of-40 passes for 278 yards with four touchdowns and one interception, while rushing 31 times for 102 yards and a touchdown. He has largely been efficient and effective save for the second-half showing against Kansas State.
As solid as Marchiol was as a passer at Arizona, Brown noted the quarterback’s decision-making on run plays was also a positive as WVU churned out 203 yards on the ground on 40 rushes. He also helped avoid disaster by snagging several potential troublesome snaps.
“Really under control and didn’t do anything that hurt us,” Brown said. “I mean that in the most positive way. We put a lot on him in the read game and we struggled with our snaps, and he did a good job of catching the football, which should be a given, but he had to make some difficult catches and he handled that. He made the correct decisions in the run game at a high percentage. There’s a few he got wrong, but we asked him to make a lot of decisions in the run game and he did a nice job with that.”
Brown gave WVU players off Sunday and Monday. The team will have weightlifting and meetings Tuesday, before practicing Wednesday and Thursday. WVU coaches will spend the weekend recruiting, before the team begins preparations for the Bearcats on Sunday.
Had the Mountaineers practiced Monday, Brown said Greene would not have participated. As for when he returns, that remains up in the air, as does Greene’s role.
“It’s a work in progress,” Brown said. “I don’t think you lose jobs for being injured. Has Nicco played well enough to deserve some playing time? Absolutely. As far as start or anything, we’re not going to talk about that until Garrett’s healthy, and that’s not where we’re at right now.”
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As for other notable WVU injuries, Brown confirmed standout left tackle Wyatt Milum has made enough progress to practice this week and will be available at Cincinnati. Milum, like Greene, sat out the second half of the loss to Kansas State and did not travel to Arizona.
Brown could not provide an update on safety Aubrey Burks, who has not played since a loss to Iowa State on October 12 and has been hampered by injury throughout his senior season. Cornerback Ayden Garnes remains sidelined and Brown said he could provide more information on Garnes’ status next Monday.
As for players injured at Arizona, defensive back KK Tarnue left during the second half with what appeared to be a somewhat significant injury that required assistance leaving the field.
“Touch and go and a lot will depend on how he heals this week,” Brown said. “If we had a game this week, he wouldn’t play. Since we don’t, he’ll be up in the air.”
Tarnue forced a first-half fumble that led to the only takeaway in the contest.
WVU tailback C.J. Donaldson also exited with an injury after a 20-yard rushing touchdown on fourth down in the second half and Brown said, “we’ll see how he does this week.”