West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is pleased with the way that redshirt sophomore quarterback Nicco Marchiol handled himself in his second career start in the win over Arizona.

Marchiol completed 18-22 passes for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns, while not turning the ball over and rushing for 39 more yards in the 31-26 road win over Arizona.

“I thought he played really under control. He didn’t do anything to hurt us, and I mean that in the most positive way,” the sixth-year head coach said.

The Mountaineers put on a lot on Marchiol in the read game as well as with a number of errant snaps, but the signal caller did a great job catching the football and making the correct decisions in the run game a high percentage of the time.

It wasn’t a perfect effort, but showcased his maturity since his last start when he was previously called upon to start for the Mountaineers last season against Texas Tech.

“I think about where he was his last start against Texas tech and where he was in this game over a year later and the progress he’s made as a quarterback and a football player, and I’m just really impressed with that and it’s a credit to his work,” Brown said.

He was also efficient when he threw the football and flashed his arm talent on a number of throws throughout the game including a 17-yard completion to Hudson Clement on third down, a 54-yard touchdown toss on a shot play to Traylon Ray and the third down pass to seal the game to Jaylen Anderson.

“It was the right read but that was his third,” Brown added.

And while the head coach is happy for how the current backup played in a difficult situation, Brown doesn’t have any long-term answer for the moment on what it means at the position. Senior starting quarterback Garrett Greene did not make the trip to Arizona and is still struggling with his injury.

That has prompted some to ask if a change at the position is coming, but Brown isn’t close to that yet.

“I’m sure some of you guys are going to ask about quarterbacks. I wouldn’t waste your time because it’s not worth talking about until he’s healthy,” Brown said.

Brown believes that it’s difficult for a player to lose their job due to injury because it isn’t good practice so any type of decision on how to proceed won’t be made until Greene is back and healthy, which isn’t the case right now.

The head coach did admit that Marchiol has played well when given chances, but outside that it’s hard to make any sort of call on what that means moving forward.

“Now has Nicco played well enough to deserve some playing time? Absolutely. But as far as starter or anything we’re not going to talk about that until Garrett is healthy,” he said. “And that’s not where we are at right now.”

Brown did acknowledge that with quarterback being a rhythm position it is difficult to bounce back and forth between options there, but it can creatively be done. Still, at this stage the focus is on getting Greene back to full health and then determining the best way to proceed moving forward.

UPDATE 10/31/24 @ 8:30 p.m.

MILTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – A 7-year-old girl who went missing during trick-or-treat in Milton on Thursday night has been found, Cabell County 911 dispatchers say.

They say she is safe and with her family.

ORIGINAL STORY

MILTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – First responders need your help finding a missing 7-year-old girl who went missing Thursday night from April Dawn Park in Milton during trick-or-treat.

Firefighters with the Milton Fire Department said the girl is wearing a Rolling Stones T-shirt and a pink tutu. She has two buns on her head.

Cabell County 911 dispatchers said the girl went missing around 7:30 p.m. Trick-or-treat went from 6 to 8 p.m. in Milton.

We’re working to get more information.

Keep checking the WSAZ app for the latest.

Copyright 2024 WSAZ. All rights reserved.

The University of Cincinnati has withdrawn from its scheduled dual meet against West Virginia scheduled for Friday afternoon and Saturday morning in Morgantown, West Virginia. The meet was scheduled to be the teams’ second as Big 12 opponents after splitting the victories last season in a two-day affair hosted by Cincinnati. There, the Bearcats won the women’s meet 241-112 and the Mountaineers won the men’s meet 162-191.

West Virginia posted the news of the cancellation on their Instagram page, with assistant coach Sydney Pickrem calling it a “huge disappointment for our swimmers” on her story, adding “Let’s continue to build this sport & always strive to achieve the highest level, especially when we RACE.”

Individuals close to the West Virginia program are telling SwimSwam that Cincinnati forfeited the meet because of a dispute over whether to wear technical racing suits. West Virginia wanted to wear the suits and Cincinnati did not, and felt that this would put them at a disadvantage.

Neither coaching staff took the opportunity to dispute that narrative.

Cincinnati head coach Mandy Commons-DiSalle is currently the president of the Board of Directors of the Collegiate Swimming & Diving Coaches’ Association of America (CSCAA)

Historically, collegiate dual meets have been raced almost-exclusively in ‘practice suits,’ with tech suits reserved for championship meets and mid-season invitationals. More recently, however, teams have taken to wearing their fast-suits for every meet as a way to more specifically prepare for the racing that will take place in those championships. That includes the Arizona State Sun Devils, who used the tactic en route to last year’s NCAA Men’s Championship in swimming & diving.

These suits improve times by reducing drag, providing muscle compression, and allowing athletes to maintain a better posture in the water.

West Virginia’s official Instagram account “liked” a comment by program alum Logan McFadden saying that “Somebody got scared and doesn’t want to come to town anymore.”

At last year’s Big 12 Championship meet, Cincinnati’s first in the conference, the Bearcats finished ahead of West Virginia in both meets. On the women’s side, Cincinnati was 4th with 918.50 points and West Virginia was 6th with 699 points. On the men’s side, Cincinnati was 4th with 1285.50 points and West Virginia was 5th with 1138.50 points.