QB Roulette Has Ended for WVU: Rich Rod Says Scotty Fox Has 'Control of it Right Now'

Have you ever seen the Grandpa Simpson GIF where he walks in, puts his hat on the rack, walks in a circle, grabs his hat, and then walks right back out? That's what the quarterback position felt like earlier this season for West Virginia before true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. took firm grasp of the job following his performance against TCU three weeks ago.

Before that game, WVU had played multiple quarterbacks in all seven games, sometimes using three. Part of it was due to injury, while some of it was performance-based. Head coach Rich Rodriguez kept searching for answers, and finally, the young pup came through, helping WVU win two straight.

Rodriguez even admitted that there was some thought to getting another quarterback into the game, but Fox's play prevented it from happening.

"I was ready to play Max Brown, too," he said on Monday. "Max has had good practices, and even Khalil Wilkins is back now, but the way Scotty is playing and kind of taking charge, he's got control of it right now."

West Virginia University quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. | Christopher Hall – West Virginia on SI

Fox threw back-to-back interceptions against Colorado, but it didn't faze him in the slightest. After the second pick, he produced a few key runs and completed 5-of-8 passes (one dropped) for 32 yards. Even when he didn't have his best game, he still showed signs of growth.

"He's so conscientious that he's going to learn everything you want to teach him. You almost got to be careful because if you tell him, "Watch for this," that's the one thing he's going to watch for, and sometimes it limits him a little bit. I don't want to say you can overcoach, but you can overanalyze it, just like that, taking the snap under center (to knee it) at the end of the game. Throughout the whole game, he knew what was happening; he knew he could have done this or done that. But there's little moments like we had the one bad snap that goes over his head. He did the right thing and got on the ball, but as he gets experience, if the ball pops up over his knees, he don't have to take a knee; he could go ahead grab the ball, turn around, and throw it out of bounds, and you don't lose ten yards. Right now, he's just getting on the ball because he doesn't want to make it a disaster. As he plays more and gets more and more confidence, you'll see more I don't want to say freedom, but you'll see him let loose a little bit because he's got next-level arm talent.

MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI