WVU football has been dealing with a quarterback competition for weeks now, and the picture as to how the team should move forward does not seem to be getting any clearer.
Nicco Marchiol started once again as the Mountaineers travelled to Kansas and lost in a brutal 41-10 beatdown to the Jayhawks. But as the score might indicate, the offense looked as stagnant as it has at any point this season under Marchiol's leadership on Saturday, and he was once again was taken out of the game early in favor of another quarterback in a contest where WVU was failing to find an offensive spark.
Jaylen Henderson saw action for the fourth time this season as well, and looked better than he has all year – he was just 2-for-4 passing for 16 yards, but ran for 79 yards on just seven carries and scored the only WVU touchdown of the game. Redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins also saw some late action for just the second time this season, and picked up 36 yards on five carries – but he didn't get any passing opportunities. When asked about the situation at signal caller after the game, head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the attempt to utilize the quarterback run game a bit more, but still appeared noncommittal as to what comes next for WVU at the position.
"We were doing a little bit quarterback run stuff. It gives you a little different dimension. I thought Jaylen ran hard. Khalil is a fast guy, so we wanted to give him some game reps as well. We'll figure out what we're going to do going forward," Rodriguez said.
It's clear that both fans and Rodriguez himself see a difference in this team when a quarterback with a bit more mobility than Marchiol, who entered the Kansas game with the fifth-worst pressure-to-sack ratio in FBS, is under center. In fact, with an offensive line as questionable as the one WVU is currently sending onto the field, a dual-threat quarterback can help make up for a lot of those blocking issues.
But Henderson has been less-than-impressive in the passing game, despite a small sample size, and Scotty Fox Jr. failed to make an appearance against Kansas after tossing two interceptions in the Brawl. What Wilkins and other reserve Max Brown (who we haven't yet seen this season) are fully able to offer is still unknown.
Now, we'll have to wait to see what Rodriguez decides to do, though pulling Henderson out after two drives for a reserve might be telling – it's possible he didn't want to risk an injury in garbage time for Henderson because he has plans for him next week. But Rodriguez has never seemed like the type of coach to pack it in and quit early, and I can't imagine he won't start trying to find different solutions at quarterback for a very bad offense now that Marchiol has had a rather lengthy evaluation period.