MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — When Garrett Greene came to Morgantown back in 2020, he was clearly the best quarterback on the West Virginia roster. Although just a freshman and a bit rough around the edges, Greene was a spectacular playmaker who gave the Mountaineers the best chance of winning games.
However, Greene sat behind Austin Kendall, a senior at the time, and Jarret Doege, a junior transfer from Bowling Green. Kendall and Doege were more experienced and more traditional passers, but Greene provided something that neither Kendall or Doege ever could; elusiveness, playmaking, the ability to create plays out of nothing.
And yet, he sat and waited while Kendall and Doege performed poorly game after game after game.
Garrett Greene should have been the starting quarterback for the Mountaineers from Day 1. Imagine how much more ready he would be for the upcoming game against Penn State in Happy Valley if Neal Brown would have started him instead of wasting 2 and 1/2 years on Jarret Doege. Doege was clearly not the quarterback that would lead West Virginia to a winning season, but Neal Brown spun the narrative that he was “the best available option for the Mountaineers”, despite it being abundantly obvious that that was not the case.
That, of course, was not true. Brown’s insistence on Greene learning to make reads properly was a bad attempt at trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Garrett Greene is the type of playmaker that operates outside the box, who makes his own reads on the fly, and who would have made far more positive plays than negative ones. Greene would have certainly made mistakes, but he would have learned from them and improved and better prepared himself for the future. Standing on the sidelines watching Jarret Doege make mistakes did nothing for his growth.
Neal Brown’s lack of foresight and his inability to judge talent set the program back multiple years, and although Garrett Greene is now a junior, he will walk into Happy Valley on September 2nd very little actual game experience.
👀 down the field @garrett3greene ➡️ @P_fox21 pic.twitter.com/iVwFwAQPrC
— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) August 13, 2023
Garrett Greene should have been the starting quarterback from Day 1 as a freshman. Imagine how much more ready he would be for Penn State if Neal Brown played him instead of wasting time on Jarret Doege for 2 and 1/2 years. Greene was the best QB then and he’s the best now. #WVU
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) August 13, 2023
