MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Improved passing accuracy is at the top of Neal Brown's list of what he wants to see from quarterback Garrett Greene next season.
 
Greene's breakthrough year in 2023 included 2,406 yards passing and 16 touchdowns, and a significant contribution to the run game that featured 772 yards and 13 touchdowns, but his 53.1 completion percentage was at the bottom among Big 12 starting quarterbacks.
 
Oftentimes last year, Brown talked about Greene being able to hit more layups and being more accurate on the easy throws.
 
"For Garrett, it's all about accuracy," Brown said. "He's done a great job this winter with our people here, but also with the quarterbacks coach he works with on his own. He's got to get his feet in a better position – some things we really knew were his issues last fall – but you can't fix those in a week."
 
The other coach Greene is working with is Birmingham, Alabama, resident David Morris, who owns and operates QB Country. Morris was Eli Manning's backup at Ole Miss, played for coach David Cutcliffe and has earned a great reputation for developing quarterbacks from the pros down to high schoolers.
 
"(Morris) doesn't really teach schematics, he leaves that to the coaches in the building, but it's more so fundamentals and kind of going back to the basics of throwing," Greene, sporting a shorter haircut, said following today's practice.
 
Brown, who admits he probably wouldn't be as receptive to his quarterbacks getting outside help 10 years ago, said he knows Morris well and their philosophies are in sync.
 
"I think there is some trust there, because I know the instructor very well, and there are just some things that we can't do with him," he noted. "He knows Garrett personally, and they have worked together for a long time, and so he's seen the transition from high school all the way through."
 
Brown likened it to his daughter having a hitting instructor to go along with her travel team and high school coaches. Having personal coaches is far more common in today's game than it was 10, 15 years ago.
 
"It's no different than my daughter, who plays softball; she has a hitting instructor outside of the travel team and the high school team she plays for," he explained. "We are working together to help him be better. 
 
"We are three months into it. Today was the first day he's practiced, so some of the mechanical things that we changed with how he finishes, working on touch passes, getting his drops more consistent and giving him input on what the drops are going to be … and there are going to be some ups and downs," Brown admitted. "Sometimes you go backwards before you go forward when you make some significant changes, but I just want him to be better when we start in August."
 
Brown said they are attacking Greene's passing accuracy from a nine-month perspective, dating back to last season.
 
"We knew it was kind of going to be playing the long game, but he's got to be more accurate, and I think he can," Brown said.
 
What Brown did during the offseason was get the best and worst cutups of Greene's throws to try and evaluate the consistencies in what caused them. New quarterbacks coach Tyler Allen has also been a big part of this process.
 
"What happens with his feet and his release when the ball is where it's supposed to be in a really positive throw and a positive result, and on the flipside of that, what are some of the commonalities that occurs when the ball is off the mark and it's a poor throw?" Brown explained.
 
Currently, what they are concentrating on is making sure Garrett's drops are more consistent.
 
"A lot of it is just body position and consistency. We watched the cutups last year of all the pass plays and the inconsistencies in my drops really showed up, and that's what caused the inaccuracies," Greene said. "It's going back to the fundamentals of basic drop mechanics and timing the drops up to the routes."
 
"He's got to take ownership of his growth," Brown added. "He played okay in the bowl game, but not to the level that I expect him to play, and not to the level that he expects to play."
 
Brown believes Greene can make a significant jump in his passing accuracy this year and points to Bo Nix as a shining example of someone who did.
 
"If you look at some of the guys who are in the draft class this year, careers who I've followed a bunch like Bo Nix," Brown said, adding he might have been the first coach to offer Nix a scholarship when he coached at Troy. "Bo made a significant jump in his completion percentage, and I think Garrett is fully capable of making a big jump in completion percentage. That's the No. 1 thing for him and getting some of the touch throws down."
 
Greene said he wants his completion percentage to be in the low 70s to high 60s, which would be a major jump from his career 54.3% rate. During today's practice, there were a couple of periods when the quarterbacks were asked to throw passes downfield a good distance into nets to help improve their accuracy.
 
Greene said Allen has mapped out a workable plan for the quarterbacks this spring.
 
"Coach TA has done a great job of kind of outlining the points of emphasis this spring, and one of them is precision accuracy and letting the ball take them to where they don't have to break stride and can run through balls," he said.
 
As for Greene's backup, Nicco Marchiol, Brown said he continues to make significant strides. Nicco got the No. 1 reps on Monday with Greene missing to attend his grandfather's funeral in Miami, and he continues to build off a strong December during preparation for the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
 

"We're going to be intentional about getting Nicco a lot of the first-team reps, too," Brown said. "He is much more comfortable as a college football player. Playing that position is really hard. Sometimes it happens really fast for people and sometimes it takes a little time, and it's taken some time for him, but he's still undefeated as a starter, and he's done some good things. 
 
"Just understanding defenses and understanding, schematically, what we're doing in the pass game and the run game, he's much more comfortable, and I think he's at a little bit more at ease because he's confident and doesn't have as much stress on him and that's going to allow him to play more freely," Brown said.
 
The coach believes both quarterbacks are poised to take the next steps in their careers. They performed well operationally during today's practice because of their experience running West Virginia's offense.
 
"I'm just as intrigued to see the next step for Nicco," Brown said. "He's been patient, and I think he's ready to take a significant jump. He's worked extremely hard - as hard as he's ever worked to this point. We have winter, spring, summer and then fall camp and in each one of those phases, we always start back at the foundation for the offense. But what happens is now you can get to your 200- and 300-level of teaching a lot faster when you have the experience at quarterback that we do."
 
West Virginia went 19 periods during this morning's practice on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Field with another morning workout scheduled for Friday.
 
Following practice, Brown, Greene and safety Aubrey Burks were made available to the media.