Morgantown, WV – Yesterday, the West Virginia University Football program held their annual Gold-Blue Spring Showcase. In a shift from the traditional scrimmage, fans were met with an 80+ play practice that featured regular offensive work, a red zone session, and a two-point conversion battle that featured fans calling plays.
The showcase was not streamed or televised. However, more than 10,000 fans had the opportunity to get the first glimpse at the 2025 Mountaineers – including me.
Today, I am going to share some of my observations from what took place on the field. Out of respect for the program and Rich Rodriguez’s wish to keep a lot of information private, I will not be discussing player performance in great detail.
Without further ado, here are FIVE OBSERVATIONS from WVU’s 2025 Gold-Blue Spring Showcase:
- Nicco Marchiol is QB1
Redshirt junior Nicco Marchiol started at quarterback for the Mountaineers on Saturday. Out of the six signal-callers that saw action, the Chandler, Arizona product seemed to be the most comfortable. While he saw the least action among the quarterbacks, this was likely a strategic move by Rodriguez to avoid injury.
After what I saw yesterday, I would be surprised if Marchiol is not under center against Robert Morris on August 30th.
- Play was a little sloppy
There were an abnormal amount of flags for a spring showcase. Many of these were procedure penalties against the offensive line, as well as a couple of facemasks against the defense. Coach Rodriguez even referenced this in his postgame interview.
This is not cause for panic, however, as I believe it was simply the team still shaking off some rust. Rodriguez will get this fixed.
- Team is lacking speed
Rodriguez has referenced this in press conferences throughout the spring. The Mountaineers are lacking speed at both the running back and wide receiver positions, at the moment. This was blatantly apparent on Saturday.
Expect the Mountaineers to hit the portal hard in the coming weeks to address this.
- The secondary looks better
Let’s be honest – it wouldn’t take much to improve in this area. WVU’s secondary left a lot to be desired under ShaDon Brown’s leadership. Rodriguez and Zac Alley seem to have put in the work to address this area of need.
The Mountaineer secondary featured several players who impressed on Saturday. Now that the appropriate coaching is in place, this unit could see a significant jump in production.
- Rich Rodriguez is much different than Neal Brown
I know what you’re thinking – “well, no shit.” Rodriguez and Brown are much different personalities. The most intriguing difference, however, is the way they operate. While I’m sure Brown coached hard, he wasn’t one to show a lot of passion, especially in the spring. Rodriguez, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.
There were a couple of plays that he came completely unglued on the field. That’s just an unusual occurrence in a spring game. I like it.
I can definitely get used to this “Hard Edge” mentality.
(Photo by WVU Athletics)
