MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez tried a quarterback change last Saturday at Ohio when Jaylen Henderson spelled Nicco Marchiol for consecutive second-half series in the Mountaineers’ 17-10 loss to the Bobcats.
After both signal-callers struggled to ignite an offense that managed three points on its last 11 possessions and was scoreless over its last six at OU, Rodriguez stopped short of committing to Marchiol as his team’s starting quarterback when the Mountaineers welcome Pitt to Milan Puskar Stadium for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. Backyard Brawl.
“The quarterback position is very unique here. I’ve never had this many guys that were kind of in the mix and have different skill sets,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t want to say we’re still figuring it out, because we had some time to figure it out, but you get a lot of answers in games, like this guy is really good at this and we need this guy to do this better. We’re figuring that out. I’m not a typical just play one quarterback. We like to give everybody opportunities and see what happens.”
Marchiol has started both games to begin the 2025 season. While he was especially efficient in the season opener against Robert Morris of the FCS, the left-handed senior struggled to get into rhythm at Peden Stadium.
Against OU, Marchiol completed 15-of-26 passes for 178 yards with one interception and was limited to 11 rushing yards on nine attempts. One week earlier, against an inferior Colonels’ team, the southpaw completed 17-of-20 passes for 224 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for 56 yards and another score and did not turn the ball over in a game that saw the Mountaineers lose four fumbles, three of which came directly after Marchiol completions.
“He’s like everybody else. He’s still learning,” Rodriguez said. “Nicco’s a great competitor. I love the way he competes. It’s important to him. Like everybody else, he’s a freshman in the system and it’s still going to be a little bit of a process. I have to remember that. I appreciate the way he’s bought in and is competing. He’s doing everything he can. Nicco wants to be great. I know that we have to help him in certain spots as well.”
One of those areas is undoubtedly up front, with West Virginia’s offense having largely struggled through its first two games. WVU has surrendered five sacks to this point and managed only 72 rushing yards in its most recent game, including a dismal 8 yards on the ground from the second quarter on.
The offensive line has veterans but with very little experience playing for Rodriguez or West Virginia.
“Assignment wise, they were pretty solid. There were times we got movement, but probably didn’t get as much push at times as we want to,” Rodriguez said. “Some of it was how they were playing us. They’re coming along OK. It’s a very conscientious group. They’re really hard workers. Again, I have to keep reminding myself that it’s the first time for all those guys starting and playing, so they’re like rookies there, but they’re going to keep getting better.”
Both series Henderson was behind center for amounted to three-and-outs last week, the second of which featured a holding penalty that wiped out his 9-yard run to the Ohio 40-yard line that would’ve otherwise set up a fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter.
Henderson, also a left-hander, has valuable game experience from 2023 during his time at Texas A&M, but is 0-for-4 passing with 44 rushing yards over brief showings in two games at WVU.
True freshman Scotty Fox Jr. warmed up during the setback to the Bobcats but never played one week after a 59-yard touchdown run in the late stages against RMU.
“I’m not naming anything, because we have a long week of practice and evaluating our guys,” Rodriguez said. “We were looking for a little spark and the best play [Henderson] had got called back because of a penalty, and it was probably a good call. He got a couple series there. He’s still in the mix as are some of the other guys. We’ll see.”