Neal Brown discusses what he’s seen throughout quarterback competition
Neal Brown was eager to share the progress of West Virginia’s quarterback competition in spring practice.
It looks like Nicco Marchiol and Garrett Greene are the top two in line to battle for the starting gig. However, Brown highlighted freshman Sean Boyle as one who surprised him a bit.
Brown detailed the situations and where the quarterback competition stood during West Virginia’s spring practice period.
“Yeah, I think it’s early on the young guys,” Brown said of the quarterbacks. “You know, Sean Boyle has been surprising with his athleticism. He can run, probably a better athlete than they maybe we initially thought coming in. They were under center in high school a lot. And so this offense is a drastic change. You’ve got a big change in scheme. You know, obviously, size speed, all the things that go with being a college student. So it’s a big jump. So I think it’s too early to (tell) where he’s at.
“But as far as Nicco and Garrett, there’s some really high points because both of them are really talented. They’re really talented. They do some of the same things. Well, they’re different. But, I mean, overall, they’re different, they have some of the same characteristics and ability to be dual threats. Nicco’s more of a strong runner. Garrett’s more of a fast runner. But they’re both really talented.”
Brown acknowledged Greene had more experience in his college career as a quarterback, which could indicate a leg up in the competition. Greene has 21 games of experience in a variety of roles, throwing for 664 yards, five touchdowns, three interceptions and a 57.4% completion percentage in relief.
“And so, they’re good. Look really good,” Brown said. “Like, Nicco today hit RPO on a post route that he hit him in stride. He put the ball in the belly … But he’s also learning, like he made a huge error in his two minute situation. We had a couple turnovers today that definitely could have been avoided. You know, Garrett had a great touchdown to CJ Donaldson on a route out of the backfield, hit him in stride. He had a huge run play today where he used to speed and made a couple guys miss an open field. He threw a touchdown pass.
“But he also probably took a sack. You know, he got a grounding period of period penalty that he shouldn’t have. He kind of escaped too fast and ran right into a blitzer. So there’s some ups and downs … I’m excited about what both of them can do because they’re really good stuff is really good. And we’re at a point to where we’re kind of just trying to put them in situations where if they screw up, at least we’re learning, you know? We’re trying to not make the same mistakes.”