Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
WVU’s Three Quarterbacks to Get Equal Reps This Spring
March 24, 2022 03:38 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia is two practices into its three-man quarterback competition that could extend beyond the completion of spring football drills in late April.
Coach Neal Brown said earlier this week that all three players will get equal opportunities to run the offense this spring.
"A lot of times you get into these and it's two, but we have three, and we're going to go through the spring and what we'll do is rotate them," Brown explained. "We did it by age initially, so Garrett (Greene) went first (on Tuesday) and then (Will Crowder today) and then Nicco (Marchiol). We'll try and give them similar reps."
West Virginia fans are most familiar with Greene, who was used mostly as a runner in order to give defenses a different look than pocket passer Jarret Doege this past season. The Tallahassee, Florida, resident was actually the team's third-leading ground gainer with 297 yards and four touchdowns, while attempting just 26 passes and completing 16 for 147 yards.
Crowder, from Gardendale, Alabama, tried just two passes last year in West Virginia's blowout victory over Long Island, completing both for 28 yards.
Meanwhile, Marchiol, with the exception of Florida transfer Will Grier, probably has the most impressive prep credentials of any West Virginia quarterback since Geno Smith arrived on campus in 2009. Marchiol, the 2022 Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, passed for more than 8,000 yards and 90 touchdowns during his impressive prep career at Hamilton High in Chandler, Arizona.
The four-star prospect had offers from 27 different schools, including most of the Pac 12, as well as lots of schools in the SEC, Big Ten and ACC. Of course, he is a guy who has everyone's interest, but right now he's one of three out there getting reps and learning Graham Harrell's new system. Brown said Marchiol will get his opportunity to run with the ones on Saturday.
"I don't want to sit here and tell you it's two or three cycles through the install period, but we'll let that go and once we get into next week we'll start doing some team and then we'll start evaluating how they drive the football," Brown said of his young quarterbacks. "You chart a lot of things – completion percentage, scoring and decision making - and they will all have equal reps and equal opportunities as we move through this."
New offensive coordinator Graham Harrell has had lots of experience in his young coaching career working with inexperienced quarterbacks. He did it at North Texas with Mason Fine, the school's all-time leading passer, and he did it at USC with Kedon Slovis and Jaxson Dart.
Both USC quarterbacks have moved on - Dart is now playing at Ole Miss while West Virginia will most likely see Slovis in Pitt's starting lineup when it opens the season against the Panthers on Thursday, Sept. 1.
"Yeah, it seems like I've had a lot of inexperienced quarterbacks," Harrell laughed.
What he learned with all three is that there are some things he's going to have to live with until they become more comfortable operating his system.
"They're going to make some mistakes, and Slovis was probably the best as far as his understanding of the offense - better than any true freshman I've had," Harrell said. "Mason Fine, at times, was all over the place, but he gave us the best chance to win. He made some mistakes that you wanted to strangle him for but playing as a true freshman that's going to happen at times."
With Fine and Dart, Harrell said he had to reduce his playbook initially.
"You can only do what they can execute at a high level," he explained. "Those are some of the things you have to balance when you're playing young guys. If you have a young guy and he can't execute it all, don't call it all."
As of today, West Virginia just finished the second of its three installations. This morning, the quarterbacks had one quick-game pass, two drop-back passes and a shot play to learn, according to Harrell. Saturday, they will learn more plays.
"If you're only choosing from four plays you've got to call them all a lot so that's kind of the thought behind it," Harrell said. "Those were different than the plays we practiced on Tuesday. This was the first time we practiced these plays against a live defense, so there is a lot we've got to clean up. You hope, as the spring progresses, the more reps they get with of all the plays the better we get."
Harrell said he's spending a great deal of time with them on fundamentals, particularly their footwork. For quarterback play, he believes everything begins with the feet.
"Throwing starts with your feet and if a quarterback's feet are good, the ball usually comes out right," he said. "A lot of that is just timing, and we've got a long way to go from that standpoint. It's got to show up in live periods, so it's something that we will always work on.
"I think quarterback is a really overcoached position, mechanically," he continued. "There is so much stuff and so many people work with quarterbacks today, and I think you can put too much in their head. I think it's really important that they have a plan with their feet, and the other thing that's important is that they know their reads. No matter what's going on, that's what we want them to know."
One other aspect Harrell wants his young quarterbacks to develop is a plan when things don't go right. What happens when a block is missed or a receiver gets knocked off their route?
What do they do?
Once again, their feet play a big role in this.
"You've still got to be able to make a play. We work a ton with drops and having a plan and throwing on time. Then, when something doesn't go right, we will work on being able to move and still throw the football," he explained.
Although it's still way too early to make any concrete assessments, Harrell said all three have done some positive things so far.
"This week is the first time they've gone through whatever plays we're working that day. The most important thing for these guys is that they truly understand it to the point where there is no hesitation," he said.
What's encouraging, in Harrell's opinion, is the experience West Virginia has returning up front with its offensive line returning intact, including All-American center Zach Frazier. Five veteran players up front can cover up a lot of holes at other spots, Harrell admitted.
"Having an experienced offensive line is going to make everyone better, and I think it's going to help, especially having some young quarterbacks help their development because they can stay in the pocket a little longer and have a cleaner pocket," he said.
"Day one, we were in outside zone, and I expected it to be a disaster with no pads on, and we actually hit some big runs and a lot of that is because the offensive line has played together, and they know what they're doing together," Harrell concluded.
The Mountaineers are scheduled to practice on Saturday morning with select players available to the media afterward.
Coach Neal Brown said earlier this week that all three players will get equal opportunities to run the offense this spring.
"A lot of times you get into these and it's two, but we have three, and we're going to go through the spring and what we'll do is rotate them," Brown explained. "We did it by age initially, so Garrett (Greene) went first (on Tuesday) and then (Will Crowder today) and then Nicco (Marchiol). We'll try and give them similar reps."
West Virginia fans are most familiar with Greene, who was used mostly as a runner in order to give defenses a different look than pocket passer Jarret Doege this past season. The Tallahassee, Florida, resident was actually the team's third-leading ground gainer with 297 yards and four touchdowns, while attempting just 26 passes and completing 16 for 147 yards.
Crowder, from Gardendale, Alabama, tried just two passes last year in West Virginia's blowout victory over Long Island, completing both for 28 yards.
Meanwhile, Marchiol, with the exception of Florida transfer Will Grier, probably has the most impressive prep credentials of any West Virginia quarterback since Geno Smith arrived on campus in 2009. Marchiol, the 2022 Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, passed for more than 8,000 yards and 90 touchdowns during his impressive prep career at Hamilton High in Chandler, Arizona.
The four-star prospect had offers from 27 different schools, including most of the Pac 12, as well as lots of schools in the SEC, Big Ten and ACC. Of course, he is a guy who has everyone's interest, but right now he's one of three out there getting reps and learning Graham Harrell's new system. Brown said Marchiol will get his opportunity to run with the ones on Saturday.
"I don't want to sit here and tell you it's two or three cycles through the install period, but we'll let that go and once we get into next week we'll start doing some team and then we'll start evaluating how they drive the football," Brown said of his young quarterbacks. "You chart a lot of things – completion percentage, scoring and decision making - and they will all have equal reps and equal opportunities as we move through this."
New offensive coordinator Graham Harrell has had lots of experience in his young coaching career working with inexperienced quarterbacks. He did it at North Texas with Mason Fine, the school's all-time leading passer, and he did it at USC with Kedon Slovis and Jaxson Dart.Both USC quarterbacks have moved on - Dart is now playing at Ole Miss while West Virginia will most likely see Slovis in Pitt's starting lineup when it opens the season against the Panthers on Thursday, Sept. 1.
"Yeah, it seems like I've had a lot of inexperienced quarterbacks," Harrell laughed.
What he learned with all three is that there are some things he's going to have to live with until they become more comfortable operating his system.
"They're going to make some mistakes, and Slovis was probably the best as far as his understanding of the offense - better than any true freshman I've had," Harrell said. "Mason Fine, at times, was all over the place, but he gave us the best chance to win. He made some mistakes that you wanted to strangle him for but playing as a true freshman that's going to happen at times."
With Fine and Dart, Harrell said he had to reduce his playbook initially.
"You can only do what they can execute at a high level," he explained. "Those are some of the things you have to balance when you're playing young guys. If you have a young guy and he can't execute it all, don't call it all."
As of today, West Virginia just finished the second of its three installations. This morning, the quarterbacks had one quick-game pass, two drop-back passes and a shot play to learn, according to Harrell. Saturday, they will learn more plays.
"If you're only choosing from four plays you've got to call them all a lot so that's kind of the thought behind it," Harrell said. "Those were different than the plays we practiced on Tuesday. This was the first time we practiced these plays against a live defense, so there is a lot we've got to clean up. You hope, as the spring progresses, the more reps they get with of all the plays the better we get."
Harrell said he's spending a great deal of time with them on fundamentals, particularly their footwork. For quarterback play, he believes everything begins with the feet.
"Throwing starts with your feet and if a quarterback's feet are good, the ball usually comes out right," he said. "A lot of that is just timing, and we've got a long way to go from that standpoint. It's got to show up in live periods, so it's something that we will always work on.
"I think quarterback is a really overcoached position, mechanically," he continued. "There is so much stuff and so many people work with quarterbacks today, and I think you can put too much in their head. I think it's really important that they have a plan with their feet, and the other thing that's important is that they know their reads. No matter what's going on, that's what we want them to know."
One other aspect Harrell wants his young quarterbacks to develop is a plan when things don't go right. What happens when a block is missed or a receiver gets knocked off their route?
What do they do?
Once again, their feet play a big role in this.
"You've still got to be able to make a play. We work a ton with drops and having a plan and throwing on time. Then, when something doesn't go right, we will work on being able to move and still throw the football," he explained.
Although it's still way too early to make any concrete assessments, Harrell said all three have done some positive things so far.
"This week is the first time they've gone through whatever plays we're working that day. The most important thing for these guys is that they truly understand it to the point where there is no hesitation," he said.
What's encouraging, in Harrell's opinion, is the experience West Virginia has returning up front with its offensive line returning intact, including All-American center Zach Frazier. Five veteran players up front can cover up a lot of holes at other spots, Harrell admitted.
"Having an experienced offensive line is going to make everyone better, and I think it's going to help, especially having some young quarterbacks help their development because they can stay in the pocket a little longer and have a cleaner pocket," he said.
"Day one, we were in outside zone, and I expected it to be a disaster with no pads on, and we actually hit some big runs and a lot of that is because the offensive line has played together, and they know what they're doing together," Harrell concluded.
The Mountaineers are scheduled to practice on Saturday morning with select players available to the media afterward.
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