Mar. 30—MORGANTOWN — West Virginia football is under a week away from the Blue-Gold spring showcase, marking the end of spring ball, and Rich Rodriguez hasn't picked one of his six quarterbacks as the starter.
Rodriguez might not name a starter until the summer because they are all still competing to be the next signal caller for the blue and gold.
Rodriguez did say one thing about his future starter. He doesn't need them to win any beauty pageants for personality.
"I don't know if I've ever worried about personality, " Rodriguez said. "It's kind of like a beauty pageant. They pick somebody and 'the winner: Miss America'... Run the offense and make good plays and you can be a loner."
He cares more about on the field than off the field.
The Mountaineers have a variety of different quarterbacks from different backgrounds, though.
Two quarterbacks joined through the transfer portal. Redshirt senior Jaylen Henderson from Texas A &M and redshirt junior Max Brown from Charlotte. Then, there are the four familiar faces: redshirt juniors Nicco Marchiol and Scott Kean, redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins and freshman Scotty Fox Jr. Only one can be the starter on Aug. 30 against Robert Morris.
Rodriguez doesn't need the starter to be the leader of the whole team, like other coaches want.
"Everybody always worries about leadership during practice, " Rodriguez said. "That's what coaches are there for. We're supposed to be leading practice."
However, he still wants his quarterbacks to be leaders behind the scenes when the coaches aren't around, during the summertime when coaches are out recruiting and in the locker rooms. Rodriguez isn't a fan of the "rah, rah " guys or guys who chew someone out for messing up.
"I feel the best leadership is earned leadership, from the standpoint of knowing what you're doing, "
Rodriguez said. "I think a lot of times ; the best leaders are guys that somebody will go to if they're not sure what to do on a play."
With just a couple of practices left, Rodriguez said the quarterbacks are still learning to be that guy, which makes sense since no quarterback on the roster has been with Rodriguez in Morgantown longer than just three months since he was hired in December—another reason for not naming a starter.
The bigger reason for him not to name a starter is to keep the six quarterbacks he likes on the roster. If he were to name a starter in spring ball, one of the quarterbacks not starting could be more inclined to jump into the portal when it opens on April 16.
They'll have time to perfect their craft with outside sources after the spring ends to help their case, since the on the field is more important to Rodriguez. Most have private quarterback coaches to perfect their craft and Rodriguez doesn't mind as long as they mirror what they've done in the spring.
"I like it, " Rodriguez said. "They got a trainer, a guy who's going to work with them. Shoot, they are working on football. It's better than other things they could be doing."
West Virginia will narrow down the starter in the summer when quarterbacks coach Rhett Rodriguez has more time with them and they develop the leadership traits to run the offense, according to Rodriguez.
"Right now, they're just learning about what they're doing, " Rodriguez said. "I think by the end of the summer, Rhett has time with them, all of them will be an extension of the coaching staff. That's what I want. To kind of be an extension of us."