WVU QBs Looking to 'Send a Message' to Fans on Saturday

The addition of JT Daniels provided a shot in the arm to the Mountaineer fan base and certainly the team's expectations in 2022. As big as it was to land the former five-star talent, there is still a quarterback battle going on in Morgantown as spring ball is coming to a close.

Garrett Greene, Will Crowder, and Nicco Marchiol are all looking to make their case for the starting job before Daniels arrives to campus down the road. "Last Thursday was big for them," head coach Neal Brown said. "This Thursday will be big for them and then Saturday will be kind of the final test for it."

Even though Daniels has yet to take as much as a single practice rep in the old gold and blue, it's evident that the starting job is his to lose. Unfortunately, he has battled all sorts of injuries throughout his career which has held him back from becoming one of the nation's top quarterbacks. With injuries a well documented piece of Daniels' past, the other quarterbacks on the roster must stay ready incase their name is called. Not to mention, Daniels only has two years of eligibility remaining, meaning that the other three currently splitting reps in spring ball would still have an opportunity to start for at minimum, two years. As I mentioned in an article last week, this is a big reason why we won't see any of the QBs transfer out of the program right away.

A big reason why Neal Brown and co. decided to go out and bring in Daniels directly stems from none of the three quarterbacks on the roster managing to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. There has been some good moments here and there from all three, but consistency has been a big issue.

"They've been up and down," Brown said. "There's been times man, where, just talking about them individually, I think Garrett [Greene] is operating at a better level than he has. I think the game has slowed down for him. He's throwing the deep ball extremely accurate right now. He's got to eliminate the big negative plays. I think for him it's not making bad plays worse. Every play is not going to be a big one. For Goose [Crowder], it's about confidence. The change of scheme probably effected him because he just now got the previous scheme down so he kind of had to restart after a year. He had his best day Thursday and I thought he was better today as well. Everything is just a little fast for him but it's starting to slow down. Nicco [Marchiol], it's a really hard transition especially in the first spring because the game is so fast. You can see some real flashes. Like, he had a great drive on Thursday. He had a naked out to the right and did a really good job of getting his shoulders around, it was a good progression, and it was a touchdown. He had another drive on Thursday that was a touchdown but he's also turned the ball over some which is to be expected. What really sticks out to me on him is that he's hungry. He hasn't repeated the same mistake very often.

"All three of them have had a really good mindset. They're competitors and they want to finish the spring with sending a message to the fan base that they're more than capable without a doubt."

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