Neal Brown reaffirms faith in Garrett Greene as starting quarterback

Amid what has been an inconsistent season for the West Virginia Mountaineers, head coach Neal Brown has reaffirmed his faith in Garrett Greene as the team’s starting quarterback.

Brown explained that he doesn’t feel like Greene has done enough to lose his job this season. However, that doesn’t mean the Mountaineers don’t need better play.

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“I think if you go across the country, everybody’s enamored kind of with the backup quarterback,” Garrett Greene said. “We’re very fortunate here because we have one that can play. So,are there scenarios where he can play? Yes, there’s definitely scenarios where he could play. Has Garrett done enough to lose his job? I would say no. Did he play as well as he needed to on Saturday for us to win? I would say no to that as well.”

Through six games this season, Garrett Greene is completing 57.3 percent of his passes for 1,267 yards and eight touchdowns to go with six interceptions. He’s also rushed for 382 yards and three touchdowns. Those are similar numbers to what he put up last season, except he’s already thrown more interceptions than in 2023 and isn’t on pace for as many rushing touchdowns after he ran for a remarkable 13 touchdowns last season.

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Nicco Marchiol is the backup quarterback in Morgantown. He came to West Virginia as a four-star recruit in the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Industry Ranking.

“But Garrett’s our starter. Nicco is a really good player and I really believe that he’s going to be the starter at some point, but Garrett hasn’t done anything. He’s played well enough. He’s got to make better decisions. One of the interceptions was clearly pass interference, so I don’t really blame him. The second one was a really poor decision. A really poor decision. Nicco’s got a bright future. We can win games with him. Are there scenarios and packages where he could play? Yes.”

Garrett Greene first went to West Virginia in the Class of 2020, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He was the 36th-ranked quarterback in that recruiting cycle. He was recruited to Morgantown by Neal Brown, who took over in 2019 and has put together a record of 34-32 during his time at West Virginia.

Following the team’s recent loss to Iowa State, Neal Brown also shot down the idea that he had even considered benching Garrett Greene.

“Why would we do that?” Brown said. “Nicco is going to be a really good player here, but Garrett Greene’s our starter, and I believe that you play through some issues, and we’ll do the same with Nicco when he’s the starter.”

West Virginia is 3-3 on the season and is 2-1 in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers are also averaging 30.2 points per game, which is 58th in scoring offense in the country. That mark is also 10th in the Big 12. At 214.8 passing yards per game, West Virginia is 86th in the country and 11th in the Big 12 in passing offense.

Next up for West Virginia is a challenging home test against the Kansas State Wildcats.