Khalil Wilkins' Job? Not So Fast, Rich Rodriguez Will Take Two Weeks to Think It Over

It wasn't a pretty performance for West Virginia redshirt freshman quarterback Khalil Wilkins in the loss to BYU, but no one expected it to be considering he was facing a top-15 defense on a short week for his first career start.

Although the 7-for-15 stat line doesn't look all that great, he was one of the main reasons the Mountaineers even made it a little interesting in the second half. The run game was nonexistent if he didn't run the ball. I'll be reviewing the tape tomorrow to see how much of that was on the o-line and how much is on Diore Hubbard and the backs for not seeing things well, but my hunch is it's on the big fellas, who have struggled all season.

Wilkins ran the ball 23 times for 89 yards and a touchdown, producing a statline most running backs would consider a successful day at work. His running ability is real and as he continues to get more reps in the system, you'll begin to see him showcase his arm, which is also talented enough to get it done.

He was picked off twice on the night, but the second can be blamed on Cam Vaughn, who had the ball placed right in his hands inside the five, only for it to bounce out and into the hands of a BYU defender.

Although much of the fan base seems to believe Wilkins is the clear-cut guy from this point forward, head coach Rich Rodriguez isn't quite ready to make that commitment.

“I ain’t seen Nicco (Marchiol). He ain’t on campus yet. Jaylen (Henderson), we didn’t travel him because he might could have went as an emergency quarterback, but he wasn’t going to be ready to go. We got an open week, so we’ll see if Jaylen can come back in two weeks. I won’t make a decision on who’s starting until game time.”

It was reported earlier in the week that Marchiol would miss the remainder of the season with a foot injury and plans to enter the transfer portal at the end of the year. His response to the question in his postgame press conference made it seem like there either hasn't been an update provided or things are still being discussed, with the former being the likely outcome.

While Rodriguez wants to delay the decision on who starts at quarterback, he was encouraged with what he saw from Wilkins on Friday night.

“Played hard. He competed. A freshman in that environment, I thought he was into the game. I think he’d like to have a lot of plays back, but I also think he competed his tail off. I think Scotty did too when he got in there," he said. “We got to get some help, I mean, hell, if you can’t score from the one-inch line – It's ridiculous. Get shoved around on offense and get shoved around on defense. It's not good. We got to get better at that.”

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