WVU coach Neal Brown refuses to address Garrett Greene's struggles at quarterback

There's one important thing to set the record straight about -- West Virginia senior quarterback Garrett Greene is a stand-up guy. He's done a lot of good for the community inside the state, has represented the program mostly with class, and has proven a gritty and gutsy leader who has helped the program win games.

He appears to have a wonderful character, gives a 100% percent effort on every snap, and his character should not be slandered and he should not be personally attacked. Far too much of that has come from some mean-spirited folks within the West Virgina fanbase, and hate has no place in our hollers.

Hell, Greene isn't necessarily even a bad player -- as I just mentioned, he's helped win a number of games for the Mountaineers. But it is clear lately that Greene has made concerning in-game decisions and less-than-ideal throws that have resulted in missed opportunities in initially competitive games that actively have hampered the team's chances for success.

In fact, comparing Greene's stats and film to last season and even to moments within the current season such as against Oklahoma State brings forth the question if not only Greene didn't develop as anticipated this offseason, but actually has regressed.

Through seven games this season Greene is 99-of-177 through the air for 1,352 yards and rushed the ball 76 times for 471 yards. His most successful stretch as a starter saw him lead the team to a 5-1 record during the last six games of 2023 -- including the Duke's Mayo Bowl. On that run, he was 76-of-142 for 1,226 yards passing and had 423 rushing yards on 59 carries. So what exactly is different?

The touchdown-to-interception ratio in particular is what has changed -- during that stretch in 2023, Greene had 8 passing touchdowns and just 2 interceptions, and he also added 8 rushing touchdowns. This season, he only has 9 passing touchdowns but already 8 interceptions, while only adding 3 scores with his legs. That's over 1 interception per game and 1 interception for every 1.5 total touchdowns, as opposed to 0.33 interceptions per game and 1 interception for every 8 total touchdowns scored.

With these struggles still present, a press conference Monday, Brown was asked if his previous thoughts following the Iowa State loss on a quarterback switch had changed. He snapped at the reporter who asked the question, and gave a non-answer before refusing to address the question further.

"Did you watch the last 2 drives of the first half," Brown asked the reporter as a retort. "Yeah, so I think it's a non-starter. Next question...I mean, he went 90-plus yards twice this week."

That was the final word as of Monday on Brown's thoughts on whether or not Greene is doing well enough to keep the starting gig when healthy.

But despite Brown's denial, Greene's play isn't where it needs to be. You can also see on film recently -- particularly in losses to Iowa State and Kansas State -- Greene has looked hesitant to tuck the ball and run when he sees an opening and has more than once made a questionable decision to force throws into coverage when running was an option.

And these decisions are costing WVU games. Four Greene interceptions resulted in 24 points against WVU in games that were within 1-2 scores at the time of the turnovers. Much can be said of whether Brown's teams are ready to compete in other facets of the game, but Greene's interceptions have cost the team opportunities in close matchups.

But to be fair to Greene, he has also been relied upon more heavily as a passer even though the team is most successful when he isn't needed to carry that load. This season, he has thrown the ball more than 25 times in 4-of-7 games played. WVU is 1-3 in those games, and he was on track to exceed 25 pass attempts again last week. Last season, Greene registered more than 25 pass attempts in 5-of-11 game where he saw significant action -- WVU was 1-4 in those games, and 6-0 in games where he threw less than 25 times.

As has been written on this site before -- this is not a personal decision, but a business decision. West Virginia football can and should appreciate Greene for all he has given to the program in terms of both effort and wins, and for how he's given back to the community at-large and represented the program and state.

But a Division 1 football program is in the business of winning games, and Greene is hampering the team's ability to do so at the moment. But with Brown unwilling to talk turkey on Greene's struggles, fans will now have to wait and see if Brown's dedication to Greene will pay off and things can be turned around.