First off, I’m not overlooking/giving up on Greene or Crowder. They’ll have their opportunity. Both have talent. But I see Marchiol as a different caliber guy from a throwing perspective.
Either way the competition is healthy. And Marchiol is the piece that completes the puzzle. Three highly regarded, dual threat QBs in the QB room from three different classes, all from the prep ranks.
We haven’t had that in FOREVER.
A brief look back at the history of prep QBs under Dana Holgorsen…
The Chugunov era.
He spun it to an 0-2 record.
19/48 for 266 yards (133 yards per game!) with 1 TD and 2 INTs.
Millard got 3 starts.
He was 64/109 for 700 yards (233 yards per game) and 3 TDs to go along with 3 INTs.
He was 1-2.
And last but not least was Ford Childress. Ford came in hot against a terrible Georgia State team who was 0-12 in their first year of FBS football. He was 25 for 41 with 359 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. He then followed it up with an 11 for 22 performance with 62 yards passing, 0 TDs and 2 INTs against Maryland.
In summary, Dana Holgorsen HS recruited QBs won a total of 2 games (out of 102) in his 8 seasons at WVU.
They were against William & Mary and an 0-12 Georgia State team.
In those starts the QBs averaged 17 for 32 (53%) for 198 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT.
Abysmal. I don’t care that he put band aids on bullet holes by making it work with Grier, Trickett, and Howard. We had them for what, two years each? With one of those years being the “learning” year that left us longing for the famous “year two in the system” that we always heard about. Which to be fair, did work out…
Now you might say, “Well Neal Brown hasn’t started a quarterback here that he recruited from the prep ranks” and if you’re thinking that, don’t be an ass. His QB from his first class is still a FRESHMAN and has spent basically his entire time here in a pandemic setting.
Dana came into Morgantown with Geno Smith and a top 2-3 offense in the country with Tavon and Stedman Bailey.
Neal inherited Trey Lowe who can’t start for Southern Miss, and Jack Allison who threw 5 INTs last year in a game for West Liberty.
That in and of itself should tell you how bad Dana was at building a “program.”
Anyways, I think Nicco Marchiol is the most important recruit in the Neal Brown era, because for the first time in a decade we’re going to have a true battle at the most important position in sports between 3 high caliber options that could all potentially be at WVU for the next 4 years.
A winner will emerge, and they will be GREAT, because in doing so they had to, for the first time in forever, actually beat out other options that are P5 caliber quarterbacks.
The cream rises to the top.
Either way the competition is healthy. And Marchiol is the piece that completes the puzzle. Three highly regarded, dual threat QBs in the QB room from three different classes, all from the prep ranks.
We haven’t had that in FOREVER.
A brief look back at the history of prep QBs under Dana Holgorsen…
The Chugunov era.
He spun it to an 0-2 record.
19/48 for 266 yards (133 yards per game!) with 1 TD and 2 INTs.
Millard got 3 starts.
He was 64/109 for 700 yards (233 yards per game) and 3 TDs to go along with 3 INTs.
He was 1-2.
And last but not least was Ford Childress. Ford came in hot against a terrible Georgia State team who was 0-12 in their first year of FBS football. He was 25 for 41 with 359 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. He then followed it up with an 11 for 22 performance with 62 yards passing, 0 TDs and 2 INTs against Maryland.
In summary, Dana Holgorsen HS recruited QBs won a total of 2 games (out of 102) in his 8 seasons at WVU.
They were against William & Mary and an 0-12 Georgia State team.
In those starts the QBs averaged 17 for 32 (53%) for 198 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT.
Abysmal. I don’t care that he put band aids on bullet holes by making it work with Grier, Trickett, and Howard. We had them for what, two years each? With one of those years being the “learning” year that left us longing for the famous “year two in the system” that we always heard about. Which to be fair, did work out…
Now you might say, “Well Neal Brown hasn’t started a quarterback here that he recruited from the prep ranks” and if you’re thinking that, don’t be an ass. His QB from his first class is still a FRESHMAN and has spent basically his entire time here in a pandemic setting.
Dana came into Morgantown with Geno Smith and a top 2-3 offense in the country with Tavon and Stedman Bailey.
Neal inherited Trey Lowe who can’t start for Southern Miss, and Jack Allison who threw 5 INTs last year in a game for West Liberty.
That in and of itself should tell you how bad Dana was at building a “program.”
Anyways, I think Nicco Marchiol is the most important recruit in the Neal Brown era, because for the first time in a decade we’re going to have a true battle at the most important position in sports between 3 high caliber options that could all potentially be at WVU for the next 4 years.
A winner will emerge, and they will be GREAT, because in doing so they had to, for the first time in forever, actually beat out other options that are P5 caliber quarterbacks.
The cream rises to the top.
