Rich Rodriguez is Giving Five QBs a Shot to Win the WVU Job and Might Play Multiple

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Jul 30, 2025 3:13 PM ET

No one expected West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez to name a starting quarterback after one day of fall camp, but it is a little surprising to hear that he still plans to rep five guys with the ones until some separation occurs.

Although he didn't name the five, we can all assume those guys are Nicco Marchiol, Jaylen Henderson, Max Brown, Khalil Wilkins, and true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. He's talked about the first three the most, which makes sense given their experience and what they've put on tape at the FBS level. This will likely be the three it gets whittled down to, but he's going to give each guy their chance here at the start of camp.

“I don’t mind being asked every day because I’m curious too, right? There’s a process of how we’re doing it. We’ve got five guys that we’re trying to get reps in, and all of them got to get an opportunity to show if they can be the guy," Rodriguez said. "I’m hoping there’s more than one. If I have three quarterbacks that are good enough to win with, I’ll play all three. I won’t pull a guy out for just a mistake, and if he’s hot, I’ll keep him in there, but it doesn’t bother me to rotate quarterbacks if they’re good enough to win with. I don’t have a timeline to shorten it down. At some point, you got to have a guy to come out with the first group.”

Rodriguez admitted that last year at Jacksonville State, he made the mistake of not going live enough during fall camp, which is why Tyler Huff — the guy who ended up being the guy at QB — didn't stand out right away; he was much better in a live setting. He also said the same was true back in the day with Pat White, who began behind Adam Bednarik.

“Did we really know what we had with Pat White until it was live? Probably not. We can’t be so worried about them getting hurt in practice that we don’t get a chance to have them show their true self. Our quarterbacks will be more live, all five, in camp more than maybe I’m used to because we’ve got to get a good, hard evaluation.”