The West Virginia Mountaineers will be looking to improve on a disappointing finish last season, and if they want to achieve that goal, they'll need to see improvement at the quarterback position.
Five different quarterbacks saw playing time for the Mountaineers last season, with four of those men starting at one point or another. But by the end of the season, Scotty Fox Jr. won the job outright, and made some West Virginia history along the way.
Now, Fox will be back for his sophomore season, but whether he'll be the starter again is still up in the air. That's because the Mountaineers went into the transfer portal and secured a high-caliber target in Michael Hawkins Jr., who previously started at Oklahoma but eventually lost the job to his competition before hitting the portal.
Now, there is a real battle for the starting job for the second straight year, and West Virginia fans are still left wondering who will inherit arguably the most important job on the entire team as fall camp is set to get underway within the next couple of weeks. So who will be QB1 in Morgantown in 2026?
West Virginia Mountaineers set for quarterback battle this season
Scotty Fox improved significantly from his first appearance to his last appearance in 2025, which only makes sense for a true freshman quarterback. He made 10 appearances and six starts, passing for 1,276 yards, seven touchdowns, and six interceptions, while adding over 200 yards and three touchdowns with his legs.
Hawkins, meanwhile, made nine appearances and five starts over two seasons with the Sooners, passing for 950 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions while adding over 260 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
So if you just look at the stats, it appears Fox is probably the better candidate. There is more experience, more passing yards, and more scoring production, and he did it in one less year. But Hawkins was a more highly-coveted prospect out of high school, and his skill set serves a Rich Rodriguez offense better than Fox's.
So maybe it should come to no surprise that right now, rumors out of offseason workouts have indicated that Hawkins is leading the battle, and there is a good chance he will be the starter when the Mountaineers open the season on September 5 against Coastal Carolina.
But regardless of who wins the job, you have to think the Mountaineers are better off this year than they were last season at the position. Hawkins is a much more highly-touted talent than any of the five entering last season who earned playing time were. And if he wins the job, that means he has proven to be better than the man who won the starting job last year and had a historic freshman campaign.
And if Fox wins the job, that means he stared down a quarterback battle against a signal caller many have assessed as more talented, and proved he deserved the job And it's hard to see that happening unless Fox progresses at least somewhat from where he was as a freshman. So whoever does win the job should give West Virginia a much better opportunity for success than they had a year ago.
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