Nicco Marchiol Says He Is Leaving His Old Lifestyle Behind for Hard Edge

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Aug 5, 2025 7:50 AM ET

Hard edge is more than just a cool two-word saying that West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez drills into his players' heads every day at practice or in the film room. It's a way of life.

It doesn't matter if you're an All-American or a former walk-on who is just trying to see the field — at some point, every player is going to face some level of adversity. And right now, redshirt junior quarterback Nicco Marchiol is right in the thick of a quarterback competition, arguably the most intense adversity there could be at this time of year.

From the moment Rodriguez took the job and Marchiol decided to stay put and not enter the portal, he's been 100% bought in. As a quarterback, you have to show that every single day and set an example. Marchiol has adopted the hard edge mindset, and to be honest, he already had it in him. He just didn't know it to be called hard edge.

“Hard edge is a lifestyle. Everyone talks about having a culture, and you can have all these good buzz words that sound really well, but it’s an entirely different thing to live it," Marchiol said. "And this team, I think, really embodies hard edge. Hard edge is not something that you do one day and don’t do another day. It’s something that you live by. And like Coach Rod says, once you learn it, you never want to go back to your old lifestyle.”

Hearing Marchiol talk like that has to have Mountaineer fans ready to run through a brick wall. He gets it. He truly gets it. And when a coach is doing everything he can to set the standard for the brand of football they are going to play, it goes a long, long way when you're quarterback not only lives it, but speaks it.

Marchiol is saying all the right things, now; he just has to prove he's the best man for the job over the course of the next three weeks.