Rich Rod Says He Knows Who Will Start at QB in Season Opener vs. Coastal Carolina

The Mountaineer head coach is keeping it in-house.

Nov 29, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez along the sidelines during the first quarter against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Rich Rodriguez wasn't kidding earlier in fall camp when he said he may not publicly announce who the starting quarterback for West Virginia is until 11:58 a.m. on September 5th, just two minutes before kickoff against Coastal Carolina.

During his radio show on Monday night, he reiterated his lack of desire to announce his decision to the world.

“I know who is going to start, but why tell (everyone)? Why let them have any idea who to prepare for? And I don’t think that’s a big deal anyway. They’re going to prepare for everyone anyway and run their stuff, but there’s no benefit to doing it publicly. Now, privately, within house, our guys will know who is going to be the first guy taking reps. In my opinion, we have two guys in Scotty Fox and Mike Hawkins that I consider the guys that could start, and we’ve got some guys behind them that will be ready pretty soon."

It's going to be Mike Hawkins Jr., and that's not really a secret. Rich Rod can keep trying to play this game of not wanting to say anything, but I mean, it's pretty obvious who it is, and who it has been for quite some time, and that's for a variety of reasons.

Hawkins was identified by the staff very early, and once they were able to get him on campus, they knew he would ultimately become their guy. He has not disappointed since arriving either. He's made big plays consistently and has the ability to bail you out of bad situations with his playmaking.

Scotty Fox will play this weekend, though, assuming everything goes as expected and the Mountaineers are able to create a comfortable lead. The same will happen next week, too, against UT Martin. But don't mistake that for Rodriguez still searching for the answer. Hawkins is the guy.

“All the quarterbacks on our roster, they all have one maybe little strength over another guy in a certain thing, but they all can do all the stuff we ask them to do. That’s a good thing," Rodriguez said. "We don’t have to change our game plan or what we’re going to do based on which quarterback is going in there. We are going to run our offense. Now, what plays the quarterbacks run best — that menu — we’re going to know obviously before coming into the game. Scotty’s got a little bit of experience, Mike’s got a little bit of experience, and that’s about it. That makes you a little nervous until you play a few games, but I think they’ll keep getting better as the season goes along.”