WVU football: Decision-making top priority for QBs in early fall scrimmages

MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Sean Reagan didn’t hesitate when asked Friday about the most important thing he would look for from his position group when the Mountaineers held their first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday evening.
“Decision-making -- 100% decision-making,” Reagan said. “I’ll tell them I am looking for 90% grade or higher on all their decision-making. That’s run reads, RPOs, pass game.
“Now, is that completion percentage? No. Because there’s a lot of factors that go into that, but I want them to be 90% or higher on decision-making on what they’re supposed to do with the football. If we can get to that point, then we’re going to be just fine.”
The Mountaineers are in the midst of a quarterback competition between Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol that has been ongoing throughout the offseason, and both have shown flashes of potential to be named WVU's starter, although that decision has not yet been made.
Reagan, who moved back to leading quarterbacks after coaching tight ends last year, said the possibility of those two hitting a 90% grade on their decision-making Saturday was not out of the question, and while he didn’t have individual stats in front of him, he believed that the QB group as a whole had graded out at about 86% in that category throughout camp so far.
The quarterbacks coach said roughly 95% of the offense had been installed after Friday, and those new installs are where most of the decision-making mistakes are coming from.
The good news? There’s not a ton of repeat mistakes.
“You can probably count it on one hand how many repeated mistakes that we’ve had, and the last time I coached quarterbacks, that’s a drastic improvement,” Reagan said. “Before, two years ago when I was coaching them, we were making the same mistake over and over and over again, and you’re just not seeing that right now. That’s really why I’m pleased where we’re at.
“Do we have a long way to go? Yes, but when we correct it, they do a really good job, probably 90-95% of the time, of trying not to make that happen again. Now, it’s going to happen every blue moon, but they’re much better when it comes to that.”
Both quarterbacks bring the threat of running the ball, and because both have that ability, planning practices and what plays to run has been easier than in years past, like when Reagan was working with Greene and Jarret Doege two years ago. Each has been getting the same amount of reps on each play, Reagan said.
Each quarterback also comes with experience, although somewhat limited. Both saw action last season behind JT Daniels, and they got the most reps through the Mountaineers' final three games.
Greene, a 5-foot-11, 202-pound junior, replaced Daniels -- last year’s starting quarterback -- during the Mountaineers’ Nov. 12 game over Oklahoma and helped lead WVU to a 23-20 victory. He threw for 138 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-22 passing and added 120 yards and two scores on 14 rushing attempts after coming off the bench.
Greene started WVU’s final two games, against Kansas State and at Oklahoma State, finishing the year with 493 yards and five touchdowns on 43-of-78 passing with three picks, as well as 276 yards and five touchdowns on 45 rushing attempts.
“Garrett’s athletic,” Reagan said. “You all know he can use his legs to help us out. He’s really improved with his eyes. The next step we’ve got to do is we’ve got to get him to not think as much and just react. We have rules of the plays. Sometimes he just goes, ‘I think, I think, I thought, I thought,’ and if we can get those plays eliminated, then he’s got a chance to be really good as well.”
WVU coach Neal Brown said Wednesday that Greene has made some big plays in the team periods, although quarterbacks have not been tackled, and was impressed with a tight throw he made in the red zone Wednesday.
Marchiol, a 6-foot-1, 224-pound redshirt freshman, saw limited action in two games early last season and came in during the regular-season finale against Oklahoma State with 29 yards on 2-of-9 passing and 32 yards on six rushing attempts. He finished the year with 61 yards and a touchdown on 4-of-13 passing with no interceptions.
“Nicco’s really, really talented,” Reagan said. “He’s had a pretty good fall camp so far. It’s been a lot of ebb and flow for him, ups and downs, but what he does a really good job of is when he makes a really bad decision, or a couple in a row, his resilience and respond to that to come up and make a good play after that, it shows his maturity.
"Maybe some days it’s fast for him, maybe some days it’s not, but he’s improving each and every day and proud of where he’s at right now.”
Brown said the lefty is “making growth,” and the coach was impressed with the mental toughness he’s shown after making those bad plays, especially in Tuesday’s practice, where he had “probably as poor decision-making as he’s made,” but bounced back.
“He went a stretch there where he made some bad decisions, and then four out of his next six plays were explosive plays,” Brown said after Wednesday’s practice. “To see him kind of take an ass-chewing and be able to bounce back and answer, I was really encouraged by that.”
Brown does not have a timetable set for when he would like to name a starter, he said.
The Mountaineers are scheduled to open the 2023 season Sept. 2 at Penn State.
“Pretty pleased where we’re at,” Reagan said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but I think we’ve got 22 days, so that’s plenty of time to get to where we need to get to. I’m happy where we’re at at this point in camp.”