Morgantown, West Virginia – Rather than admitting that he’s been wrong about who he’s played at quarterback this season, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown double-downed on his thoughts that Jarret Doege is the right man for the job.
“You know, um, I think that’s, um, that’s one of the things I really looked at this week, is, um, I’ll talk about Jarret first,” Brown said. “I don’t think playing Garrett has hampered him or necessarily taken practice reps away from him because we always give our backups reps anyway because the things we’re asking of Garrett we wouldn’t ask of Jarret and vice versa.
In Jarret, he’s been a little inconsistent but he competed really hard on Saturday. He had a couple of really good scrambles. He threw the ball away under pressure at times. He got smoked on a couple of missed blitzes that we had and he got up and delivered the ball the next time, which I think takes real character to do that.”
Brown suggesting that Doege “had some really good scrambles” is laughable and simply untrue. Like every game, Doege was a stone statue in the pocket and was sacked numerous times precisely because he can’t scramble.
Brown portraying Doege as this heroic figure who took hits because of poor offensive line play and still got up and continued to lead the team is hysterical. What did Brown expect him to do? Lay on the ground and quit?
Brown finds any and every opportunity that he can to shower Doege with praise and accolades, but finds faults in virtually everything that Garrett Greene does on the field.
“For Garrett, where he really struggled in the run game against Texas Tech were his run reads. Against Baylor, I thought his run reads were much improved. But he’s got to do what he’s coached to do in the pass game. I’m all for the freelance, but he’s got to go from 1 to 2 before he takes off and runs. On Saturday, he just took a drop and just ran. You know, the struggle with him is that the receiver group is by far and away the most productive group on our offense right now and he’s got to be able to utilize them. They’re open when he’s playing and he’s got to be able to find them and get them the ball.”
To be clear, Brown is not “all for the freelance.” He’s a bonafide control freak that wants his quarterbacks to do what they’re told, whether it’s for the good of the team or not.
Why exactly does Brown feel the need to handle Doege with kid gloves yet constantly criticizes Greene and very rarely says anything positive about his performance?
It’s an absolute mystery. However, what’s clear is that Brown has no intention of making a change at the quarterback position anytime soon. Although he said that “everything is on the table” in regards to changes on the team, the most important potential change will not happen.
