Morgantown, West Virginia – Before the start of the 2021-2022 season, Neal Brown claimed that redshirt senior Jarret Doege had shown tremendous growth and improvement during the offseason.
Brown went so far as to claim that Doege was the team’s “most improved player.”
“He’s really our most improved player which is a positive for him,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said during the offseason. “He’s going into what will be his third fall here, but his fifth in college football. He’s experienced, he’s handled himself well, he’s taking the things that we thought were really important for him to get better at and he’s showing major improvement.”
Brown cited Doege’s improved pocket movement and presence as his most significant enhancement.
Through the first four games of the season, it’s abundantly clear that Doege is nowhere near the most improved player on the team. In fact, he may be the player who has regressed the most.
Is Jarret Doege the most improved player at #WVU this season?
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) October 1, 2021
Brown labeling Doege as the most improved player on the team is alarming. Unless Doege is an entirely different player in practice than he is in games, Brown’s ability to judge and assess talent has to be questioned.
Brown has alluded to Garrett Greene not being ready to lead the offense. He’s claimed that Greene doesn’t make correct reads, that he’s not a traditional quarterback, that he didn’t play in an offense in high school that prepared him properly for the West Virginia offense, etc.
Brown also claimed that Jarret Doege won the starting quarterback position “by a large margin” in the offseason, but it’s obvious that Doege’s supposed brilliance in practice is not going to translate into actual games.
Instead of allowing Garrett Greene an opportunity to prove himself by running the same offense Doege does, Brown has relegated Greene into a run-only quarterback. In the second week of the season, Brown had a perfect chance to open up the offense and see what Greene was capable of against Long Island University. However, Brown refused and only played Greene sparingly in the blowout win.
Neal Brown has handled the quarterback situation as poorly as possible this season. Brown’s dismal play-calling and stubborn support of Jarret Doege have led to two West Virginia losses.
While Brown wants West Virginia fans to “trust the climb”, it’s difficult if not impossible to trust someone who said Jarret Doege is the most improved player on the team.
Neal Brown called Jarret Doege “the most improved player on the team in the offseason.” How can anyone blindly trust him after that?
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) October 1, 2021
