Rodriguez Shocks With Comment About Freshman QB Scotty Fox Playing This Year

True freshman quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. had Mountaineer Nation's attention during the season opener against Robert Morris on Saturday, making the most of his extremely limited work.

Fox completed his only pass attempt on the afternoon for eight yards, but also ripped off a 59-yard rushing touchdown, stiff-arming a defender in the open field before turning it up down the sideline.

During his coach's show at Kegler's on Monday night, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez made an interesting remark about Fox's future, including this season.

“Scotty’s a really talented guy. He’s got a great future. He can run, but he’s a big guy. He’s physical and knows how to run. But he’s also got one of the quickest releases of any quarterback, I think I’ve ever had, which is a really neat thing. He’s still young, he’s still learning. He’s got a great attitude, and he’s going to play a lot of football this year. I think he’s going to be a great Mountaineer. He already is. I love coaching him.”

Considering WVU has three veterans in that room with Nicco Marchiol, Jaylen Henderson, and Max Brown, most (myself included) would have assumed that Fox's role would likely diminish as the season moves along.

Then it hit me. Rodriguez did say something about not wanting to redshirt players. Well, here's that quote in its entirety.

"Redshirt them for the next coach or the next team? Hell with that. If they can help at all, then them suckers are playing, man. I ain’t saving them for the next damn coach.”

Can you really blame him either? In this day and age, there is no such thing as redshirting and taking two to three years to develop a quarterback. Once they learn that's the plan, they hop in the transfer portal, leaving the coaching staff looking for a replacement. Although it was against Robert Morris and a small sample size, Fox showed he has the ability to impact the game.

How much will he factor into the offense moving forward? No one really knows. But if Nicco Marchiol continues to play the way he did on Saturday, I can't imagine he'd have a huge role.