Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Brown Seeking Improved Downfield Passing Execution on Saturday
September 07, 2023 04:32 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Coach Neal Brown is seeking more from West Virginia's downfield passing attack, and he's hopeful junior quarterback Garrett Greene can deliver this Saturday night against Duquesne.
Greene, who won the starting job during fall camp over redshirt-freshman Nicco Marchiol, completed 16 of his 27 pass attempts for 162 yards in West Virginia's 38-15 loss at seventh-ranked Penn State last Saturday night.
The Tallahassee, Florida, resident completed a 37-yard pass to Devin Carter that led to West Virginia's first touchdown and connected on passes of 22 and 23 yards to Carter on consecutive plays during the Mountaineers' other touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter.
According to SportsSource analytics, Greene was most effective passing the football on second down when he completed 8 of his 12 attempts for 65 yards. He was 3 for 4 on third down and missed both fourth down pass attempts.
Brown said earlier this week that he is seeking better efficiency from Greene on conversion downs this Saturday.
"We've got to execute the pass game in critical situations," Brown noted.
Following last Saturday's loss, Brown thought Greene managed the game well and operated the offense without any issues.
"Credit to him for the game management," he said. "We didn't have any 40-second clock issues. We didn't have any 25-second clock issues. He ran the ball really effectively; his decisions when to run it and when to throw were pretty spot on.
"But he missed some throws," Brown continued. "You got to make layups. He had two really bad throws on screens. Those are layups, and you got to make those."
Two misses in particular really bothered Greene when he met with media afterward.
"Third down, the slant to Traylon (Ray). I can't miss those," Greene said. "The first play of the game, the screen to Cortez (Braham), I need to give him a better throw. There were a couple throws that I'd like to have back."
There were probably others, too, that he could have delivered in a timelier fashion or put in a better spot, but we must also remind ourselves that despite playing 23 career games now into his junior year, he's attempted just 135 career passes.
That's not a very big sample size from which to study, evaluate and learn.
Throughout his career, Greene has been utilized mostly as an athletic changeup to pocket passers Jarret Doege and J.T. Daniels. He tried four passes during the two games he played in as a true freshman in 2020. Two years ago, he attempted 26 passes and last season finished with 78 attempts when he took over the starting job from Daniels late in the season.
The 27 passes he threw during last Saturday's Penn State game equaled his career-high 27 attempts in last year's Kansas State loss. So, in this regard, he's still very early in the developmental stages as a passer. Take any West Virginia quarterback you want through the years and no matter who you pick, I will submit that Garrett's numbers are probably not too far off a lot of them through 135 career attempts.
Will he become a more effective and productive downfield passer in the coming weeks? That's Brown's hope, which is why he called more passes during the fourth quarter last Saturday.
"We wanted to throw the ball some there later in the game because we need to get better at it," Brown explained. "The kid can throw. To say that he can't throw the ball would be an absolute fallacy because he can."
Greene can also run; that we already know.
His 71 yards rushing on 15 attempts against Penn State were in line with what he did during his sophomore season when he averaged 6.1 yards per carry and scored five touchdowns. In fact, his 6.13 career yards-per-carry average is extremely impressive when you consider that sacks also figure into his rushing total.
He's on target to exceed 1,000 yards rushing for his career later this year and should top 1,000 passing yards sometime this Saturday.
Brown believes Greene could eventually turn his game into an artform if he can put it all together.
"My deal with him is I think about guys that play like him; it's like an artist," Brown admitted. "When you have an artist, you want them to create art. For him, I do not want to take his play-making skills away. He's an athletic quarterback, and I thought he took care of the football, that's your one concern.
"Was he perfect with every run or pass decision? Probably not. I thought he did run around and make some plays, and I thought he extended some plays," Brown added. "What we've got to do a better job of is when he extends that he is looking down the field. The one disappointing thing is we really needed to be more explosive in the pass game."
Perhaps that comes this Saturday.
Kickoff is 6 p.m. and the contest will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling 1-800-WVU GAME.
Greene, who won the starting job during fall camp over redshirt-freshman Nicco Marchiol, completed 16 of his 27 pass attempts for 162 yards in West Virginia's 38-15 loss at seventh-ranked Penn State last Saturday night.
The Tallahassee, Florida, resident completed a 37-yard pass to Devin Carter that led to West Virginia's first touchdown and connected on passes of 22 and 23 yards to Carter on consecutive plays during the Mountaineers' other touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter.
According to SportsSource analytics, Greene was most effective passing the football on second down when he completed 8 of his 12 attempts for 65 yards. He was 3 for 4 on third down and missed both fourth down pass attempts.
Brown said earlier this week that he is seeking better efficiency from Greene on conversion downs this Saturday.
"We've got to execute the pass game in critical situations," Brown noted.
Following last Saturday's loss, Brown thought Greene managed the game well and operated the offense without any issues.
"Credit to him for the game management," he said. "We didn't have any 40-second clock issues. We didn't have any 25-second clock issues. He ran the ball really effectively; his decisions when to run it and when to throw were pretty spot on.
"But he missed some throws," Brown continued. "You got to make layups. He had two really bad throws on screens. Those are layups, and you got to make those."
Two misses in particular really bothered Greene when he met with media afterward.
"Third down, the slant to Traylon (Ray). I can't miss those," Greene said. "The first play of the game, the screen to Cortez (Braham), I need to give him a better throw. There were a couple throws that I'd like to have back."
There were probably others, too, that he could have delivered in a timelier fashion or put in a better spot, but we must also remind ourselves that despite playing 23 career games now into his junior year, he's attempted just 135 career passes.
That's not a very big sample size from which to study, evaluate and learn.
Throughout his career, Greene has been utilized mostly as an athletic changeup to pocket passers Jarret Doege and J.T. Daniels. He tried four passes during the two games he played in as a true freshman in 2020. Two years ago, he attempted 26 passes and last season finished with 78 attempts when he took over the starting job from Daniels late in the season.
The 27 passes he threw during last Saturday's Penn State game equaled his career-high 27 attempts in last year's Kansas State loss. So, in this regard, he's still very early in the developmental stages as a passer. Take any West Virginia quarterback you want through the years and no matter who you pick, I will submit that Garrett's numbers are probably not too far off a lot of them through 135 career attempts.
Will he become a more effective and productive downfield passer in the coming weeks? That's Brown's hope, which is why he called more passes during the fourth quarter last Saturday.
"We wanted to throw the ball some there later in the game because we need to get better at it," Brown explained. "The kid can throw. To say that he can't throw the ball would be an absolute fallacy because he can."
Greene can also run; that we already know.
His 71 yards rushing on 15 attempts against Penn State were in line with what he did during his sophomore season when he averaged 6.1 yards per carry and scored five touchdowns. In fact, his 6.13 career yards-per-carry average is extremely impressive when you consider that sacks also figure into his rushing total.
He's on target to exceed 1,000 yards rushing for his career later this year and should top 1,000 passing yards sometime this Saturday.
Brown believes Greene could eventually turn his game into an artform if he can put it all together.
"My deal with him is I think about guys that play like him; it's like an artist," Brown admitted. "When you have an artist, you want them to create art. For him, I do not want to take his play-making skills away. He's an athletic quarterback, and I thought he took care of the football, that's your one concern.
"Was he perfect with every run or pass decision? Probably not. I thought he did run around and make some plays, and I thought he extended some plays," Brown added. "What we've got to do a better job of is when he extends that he is looking down the field. The one disappointing thing is we really needed to be more explosive in the pass game."
Perhaps that comes this Saturday.
Kickoff is 6 p.m. and the contest will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling 1-800-WVU GAME.
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