West Virginia QB battle: Rich Rodriguez debates naming starter before season opener

The 2025 regular season is rapidly approaching. Despite that, head coach Rich Rodriguez has not named a starting quarterback for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Recently, Rodriguez was asked about his plan at quarterback. Ultimately, he was coy about where the Mountaineers stand. That could, potentially, even mean not naming a starter before the regular season begins and playing multiple quarterbacks in the opener.

“We were talking for 15 minutes before we got to the quarterback,” Rich Rodriguez said. “I’m really proud of you guys. It took 15 minutes before we got to the quarterback. You did it. I mean, you held back. You were wanting to do that 10 minutes ago, weren’t yeah? Now, I’m not even gonna answer it.”

There are several quarterbacks competing for the starting job at West Virginia too. That included Charlotte transfer Max Brown, who completed 46.2 percent of his passes for 561 yards and three touchdowns to six interceptions last season. Another transfer, Jaylen Henderson, comes from Texas A&M. For his part, he completed 67.9 percent of his passes for 715 yards and six touchdowns to two interceptions.

Nicco Marchiol has been at West Virginia for the last three seasons. He’d complete 66.1 percent of his passes for 434 yards and five touchdowns to two interceptions. After him, the options at quarterback for West Virginia have significantly less experience, but don’t lack talent. That includes young players like Scotty Fox and Khalil Wilkins.

“If you had a guy clearly separate and you’re like, he’s it, I would maybe know that myself. But there’s no reason for me to say that. You know what I mean? And no reason for me to even include anybody else in that, other than Rhett [Rodriguez]. It may happen. It may not happen. In my mind, I kind of think I would know where we’re at,” Rodriguez said. “But I watched today’s practice and I’m really going to have to evaluate all week about what our true order is because, again, you can only play one at a time. But I have an idea of where they’re at right now, and I’m seeing if somebody will separate in the next six, seven days.”

On August 30th, West Virginia will open its season against Robert Morris from the FCS ranks. It doesn’t appear as though Rich Rodriguez will name a starter before then. So, for the time being, the QB battle will continue with the season just around the corner.