Apr. 5—MORGANTOWN — West Virginia's replacement for a spring game, the Gold-Blue Showcase, showed a little preview of Rich Rodriguez's second term in Morgantown.
The Gold-Blue Showcase started off with a kicking portion that went right into the scrimmage. Rodriguez said it wasn't going to be a full game and fans took the hint, showing in the small turnout.
However, Rodriguez made it a fan experience. During a portion of the scrimmage, Rodriguez went into the crowd and asked a fan to call a two-point conversion play.
Most of the practice was the scrimmage, which showcased six out of the seven quarterbacks. The scrimmage was brief, lasting a little over an hour.
There wasn't too much to take away from the scrimmage, but here are some notes.
Quarterback battle Six out of the seven quarterbacks were dressed Saturday. Redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins was dressed in street clothes and didn't participate.
The first thing to note was that Texas A &M redshirt senior Jaylen Henderson and redshirt junior Nicco Marchiol were the only two quarterbacks in black and the only two quarterbacks who weren't live.
During the showcase, the first quarterback marched out was Marchiol. He completed one pass on his opening drive, which was a deep, high-arching shot. The drive ended in a field goal. He came in for two plays later, where he completed a contested pass to Jarel Williams and handed the ball off for a touchdown.
Henderson took over the next drive. He completed a couple of short passes but missed on a fourth down deep shot, ending the drive in a punt. He came back on for the fourth drive. He overthrew another intended receiver on a deep pass but completed a couple of passes on short routes. His second trip, after a couple of penalties, ended in a rushing touchdown.
Quickly, Henderson was subbed in for one play during Scotty Fox's drive. He took a deep shot that was intercepted by Jason Chambers.
Charlotte transfer Max Brown took the third drive snaps. Brown made a couple of passes but showed more with his legs. Brown took off on a keeper and rolled out on a pass. He was live and was allowed to be tackled. Brown wasn't afraid to lower his shoulder to pick up the extra yards, taking advantage of playing live.
Brown came out for a couple more drives and impressed with his legs. His first drive ended with the first touchdown of the game, which was a quarterback keeper.
Scotty Fox was the fourth quarterback out, followed by Scott Kean and Abe Finwich was the final quarterback out.
Injuries Last year's leading rusher Jahiem White was dressed and warmed up with the rest of the team. He suffered an injury in the spring and was still recovering.
White didn't come in during the full scrimmage and stayed put on the sidelines with his helmet off.
Taking the bulk of the carries was redshirt freshman Diore Hubbard. Hubbard caught some passes out of the backfield and had some shifty runs up the middle. Hubbard took off during one of Marchiol's drives for a touchdown. Trae'von Dunbar and Tye Edwards also saw action.
There were a couple of injuries during the scrimmage.
Safety Israel Boyce was injured at the start of the scrimmage. He walked off under his own power with a little help from two staffers.
A little bit later on, offensive lineman Walter Young Bear was injured and walked off under his own power.
Standout players There were a couple of players who made some plays that weren't quarterbacks or running backs.
Appalachian State transfer senior corner Jason Chambers intercepted Henderson deep over the middle of the field, running the route better than the receiver.
On fourth down, pass rusher Oryend Fisher swatted down the pass at the line and Reid Carrico was in on a ...
