Aug. 19—MORGANTOWN — Monday was the first day of game prep for almost all college football teams. The only exceptions were the Week 0 teams, which actually are three Big 12 teams. The start of game prep meant it was time to unveil starters and, most importantly, who the starting quarterbacks were.
Ohio State named Julian Sayin, and Notre Dame picked C.J. Carr to be their starting quarterbacks, and there were many more. One team that’s yet to name its signal caller is West Virginia.
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Rich Rodriguez has kept his depth chart close to his chest and hasn’t picked between returner Nicco Marchiol, Texas A &M transfer Jaylen Henderson, Charlotte transfer Max Brown, or returner Scotty Fox.
On August 17, Rodriguez and his staff sat down and discussed the depth chart because getting reps for 50-60 players during game week isn’t possible. In the conversation was who the starting quarterback was going to be.
Rodriguez made it clear he won’t name a starter until the very last minute, but it’s getting easier to speculate and narrow down who it’ll be.
Marchiol will most likely be the starter. He’s one of the most experienced quarterbacks on the roster and won a couple of games as a starter last year. Rodriguez said nothing but great things about Marchiol during camp, too.
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Marchiol also appeared to be working with the first team during some of the camp viewing sessions, was the first player available to the media, and came out first for the spring game. Marchiol was also atop the depth chart Rodriguez showed briefly during one of his press conferences, if you want to use that as well.
It feels like Marchiol is going to be the starter.
Henderson does make for an interesting counterargument, because outside sources think he’ll be the starter.
The Texas A &M transfer played a couple of games in 2023 against SEC opponents, accounting for eight of the team’s last 14 touchdowns to end the season. Seeing this success, and that he transferred in, sportsbooks and the NCAA video game would say he’s the starter for WVU.
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At 6-foot-3, 227 pounds, and rushing upside, Henderson has the attributes of a Rodriguez quarterback. However, Henderson hasn’t shown he can be a prolific passer to run the offense, holding him back.
Taking the strengths of Marchiol and Henderson, I think Rodriguez will run a two-quarterback system, which he said he would if he had more than one quarterback that can “help them win.”
Marchiol will be the primary quarterback, but Henderson will come in for certain packages that are more run-focused, with the option to throw it if needed, too. During practice, the quarterbacks worked on this sort of two-quarterback system, too, with Brown taking a handoff. This system was used in multiple places over the years. Neighbor Penn State used it last year with Drew Allar and Beau Pribula.
This also has the added benefit that if Marchiol got hurt, Henderson would already have some snaps under his belt.
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There are only two more times when Rodriguez will answer questions. He’ll appear at Kegler’s Sports Bar and Grille on his radio show on Aug. 25, and then to the media on Aug. 26. Rodriguez could reveal the starter during those appearances, but after holding for this long, it seems like everyone will find out around 2 p.m. when WVU’s offense is trotted out on the field.
Rodriguez said all camp that he understands the need to know who it’ll be, but at this point, he’s just counting down the days to announce it during the first game, so he isn’t asked about it anymore.
“We were talking for 15 minutes before we got to the quarterback, ” Rodriguez said. “I’m really proud of you guys. It took 15 minutes before we got to the quarterback.”
