Neal Brown shares honest evaluation of Nicco Marchiol after play in Week 7

West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene didn’t play in the second half of a blowout loss to Kansas State on Saturday, with backup Nicco Marchiol instead taking the snaps after the break.

His coach, Neal Brown, was blunt about how things went.

“He didn’t play well. He didn’t play well,” Brown said. “I don’t think it’s a fair assessment of where he’s at. You know, Oklahoma State he played really well. But he also had a great week of preparation that week and he practiced well. I wasn’t surprised.

“Last week, missed practice on Tuesday and then wasn’t real sharp, so didn’t practice real well. And that’s kind of how he played.”

In the game against Kansas State, Nicco Marchiol went 6-of-13 passing for 58 yards and a touchdown. He also ran nine times for no net gain.

That was a stark contrast from the Oklahoma State game, where he completed just one pass for 10 yards but ran seven times for 46 yards. He’s capable of burning teams with his legs, something West Virginia will likely look to use in the event he plays a bigger role going forward.

Brown wouldn’t commit to that, though.

“He’s going to get a bunch of reps, so if his number’s called he’ll be ready and I expect him to play at a high level,” the West Virginia coach said.

Greene appeared to suffer a head injury against Kansas State, so it’ll be interesting to see whether he’s in good enough shape to play in this weekend’s contest on the road at Arizona.

If he can’t, Nicco Marchiol will be ready.

“Yeah, we’ll just see. We’ll see how it goes,” Brown said, before addressing Greene’s status. “I think it’s too early to tell on any of that. He didn’t practice today. So I’m not saying he’s out, I think it’s too early to tell. So we’ll just kind of play it by ear.”