Rich Rodriguez Explains What Will Decide WVU’s Starting Quarterback Battle

Revealing the starting quarterback prior to the season opener against Robert Morris isn't something West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez is going to be willing to do.

Sure, it may provide some excitement for fans to know who's going to be under center, but what good does it do? It allows for RMU and future opponents to center their strategy around one guy as opposed to two or perhaps three.

Keeping the QB1 decision private may seem like an act of gamesmanship, but it's more about letting this "wide-open" competition play itself out and giving those involved as many practices as possible to prove they are worthy of earning that QB1 label.

Aside from making big-time throws and making things happen with their legs, taking care of the ball and making the correct read(s) will help determine who the starter is going to be.

“They’re going to make mistakes. But is it a physical mistake? If it’s a mental mistake, is it like an egregious mental mistake that we overemphasize not to do? Obviously, taking care of the ball, everybody will tell you that, but what you can’t have is the repeated mistake," Rodriguez said when asked about what a non-negotiable is for his quarterbacks. "They have so many decisions, they’re going to have some bad ones, but are they repeating it over and over again? There’s so much to coach that we don’t have the time to keep going over the stuff we should have already fixed.”

The mistakes are not solely related to turnovers, either. It could be as simple as making the wrong read over and over again on a read option, RPO, not going through progressions correctly, taking a sack versus trying to make a low-percentage throw, and so on. There are a billion other things that can go wrong beyond turning it over.

The quarterback who has the fewest repeated mental mistakes is going to be the one who trots out there for the first series against the Colonials on August 30th.

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