MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s first regular season meeting with Utah brings about a quarterback change for the Mountaineers.
After starting the first four games of 2025, Nicco Marchiol will not be in action against the Utes come 3:30 p.m. Saturday in a FOX-televised contest. Marchiol was in Colorado midweek to see a specialist for a foot issue, leaving Jaylen Henderson in line to make his first start behind center at WVU.
Henderson has appeared during the second half in every game over the first month of the season, and the Mountaineers would like nothing more than to see the Texas A&M transfer provide a much-needed jolt to an offense coming off a poor showing last Saturday in a 41-10 loss at Kansas.
“Some of these guys are going to get thrown into an opportunity and hopefully Saturday, they can show what they can do,” WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “I’m excited for them. They should be excited. When you get an opportunity to play, especially in our environment, it should be exciting for them.”
Henderson was at quarterback for two of WVU’s 14 possessions against the Jayhawks and his 13-yard fourth-quarter run marked the Mountaineers’ only touchdown.
While Henderson, a left-hander like Marchiol, has extensive past experience with the Aggies from the 2023 season, he is unproven and has been ineffective in a limited passing role at West Virginia. Henderson has completed 4-of-11 passes for 28 yards and enters as the team’s third-leading rusher with 118 yards on 16 attempts.
“Our quarterback involved in the run game always has to be part of our offense we think when we’re rolling good,” Rodriguez said.
Regardless of who Rodriguez opts to utilize behind center, the Mountaineers will need better play up front from a group that could be without starting center Landen Livingston, who left last week’s loss with an injury. The head coach hinted there could be personnel changes to the front five.
“That’s why this is going to be a big week — [Tuesday and Wednesday] are going to be helpful to us to see if some of these other guys are ready to go in and compete,” Rodriguez said. “Throwing them against Utah is probably not the best thing, because they’re going to be one of the best fronts we’ve faced all year, but is what it is.”
Henderson would benefit from the return of tailback Tye Edwards, whose lone extensive action came two weeks ago when he rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns in an overtime win against Pitt. Edwards was out injured last week and is questionable for the matchup with the Utes. He remains the leading rusher on WVU (2-2, 0-1) despite having carried the ball in one game all season.
“We have to get the running back situation figured out this week,” Rodriguez said.
Utah (3-1, 0-1) is also looking to bounce back after suffering a 34-10 home loss to Texas Tech last Saturday. After scoring 137 points over their first three games, the Utes struggled to sustain drives, had four turnovers and were held to 263 total yards.
Veteran head coach Kyle Wittingham expects a tough challenge awaiting in an environment he’s unfamiliar with.
“I’ve never been to Morgantown, but I understand it’s a great place to play,” Wittingham said. “They get great crowds. It holds about 60 [thousand] and they’re getting close to that. Rich Rodriguez is a really good offensive coach. He has great schemes. They’ve had a little bit of musical chairs with the quarterbacks. They played three of them at the Kansas game, so they’re still not quite settled at quarterback. The top back didn’t play against Kansas last week — the big kid, No. 2 [Edwards].
“We’ve faced [Rodriguez] plenty of times when he was at Arizona and Michigan, so we know what he brings to the table offensively. We’re going to have our hands full. They’ll be fired up coming off a loss like us. When you’re coming off a loss, you’re hungry, so we’re going to get their best shot.”
Quarterback Devon Dampier missed two practices leading up to last week’s loss to the Red Raiders, perhaps explaining in part why the New Mexico transfer struggled for the first time at his new program.
“Texas Tech is really talented. Their d-line got after them, got off the ball and made it hard on that quarterback all day, knocked him backwards,” WVU defensive coordinator Zac Alley said. “They had a great plan as far as the run game and pass game. They had clearly studied them all offseason with the plan to go in and win that game. You could tell the preparation was there. They were more physical and outplayed them.”
A dual threat, Dampier has been stellar otherwise and has completed 90-of-127 passes for 790 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Dampier is also Utah’s leading rusher with 225 yards and one TD on 44 attempts.
West Virginia’s defense enters allowing a respectable 21.3 points on average and the unit has displayed a variety of looks that have often made it difficult for opponents to identify who’s coming from where.
Holding Dampier in check as well as run game that ranks 17th nationally with nearly 243 yards on average will be perhaps the toughest test to date for Alley’s group.
“They’re still trying to be a power run team. They just get to it different ways,” Alley said. “They’ll show you more spread out formations, but they’re going to run power, counter and downhill at you consistently. That’s who they want to be.”