Could Nicco Marchiol See Playing Time Saturday?

If this week for the West Virginia Mountaineers couldn’t get any more tumultuous, head coach Neal Brown dropped a doozy of a tidbit during his Tuesday press conference, when he refused to announce backup quarterback Garrett Greene as the start against the Kansas State Wildcats, instead hinting that freshman four star quarterback Nicco Marchiol could also see time.

I probably won’t name one, but I’ll say this, Garrett earned the opportunity to play more. We’ll get both those guys ready. And we’ll get Nicco [Marchiol] more snaps, too, because he’s got games he can play now because he doesn’t have to redshirt. I’m impressed with how much better he’s getting. We’ve been getting him some reps as well. Off Garrett’s performance, he deserves to play more. We won’t name a starter going in, but he definitely deserves to play more.

I would not take this as Garrett Greene is not starting, though he may not be the quarterback who “starts”, Greene is undoubtedly going to see the majority of action on Saturday. The question is what about this comment about Nicco? Brown says that he doesn’t have to redshirt - meaning that Nicco can’t play more than the four games allotted by the NCAA that allows a player to redshirt and keep a year of eligibility. The Mountaineers can only play three more games and Nicco has played in one already.

With the firing of Shane Lyons yesterday, Brown’s seat is currently on fire and he knows his days in Morgantown are likely numbered, as soon as the new athletic director is announced. Playing Nicco could be a ploy to keep the player at West Virginia or at least keep him out of the transfer portal right now.