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MORGANTOWN -- If it were an episode in "NCIS", "FBI" or "Rizzoli and Isles" instead of a broadcast of a football game, Neal Brown would have been issuing a "BOLO" this week as he searches for his quarterback, Garrett Greene when West Virginia kicks off at home against UAlbany at 6 p.m. today on ESPN+.
A "BOLO", of course, is a police acronym for "be on the lookout" for a suspect whose whereabouts are unknown and, in last Saturday's opening 34-12 loss to No. 8 Penn State, the Garrett Greene who was expected to be the engine that drives the Mountaineers' offense definitely had gone missing.
"He needs to be who he is," Brown stressed on his Thursday night radio show. "He's a guy who can extend plays. He can run."
Greene's dual-threat abilities at quarterback, to throw the football and run it, are what makes the Mountaineers dangerous on every snap. He, like Pat White, Major Harris, Rasheed Marshall and Skyler Howard before him, gives WVU a second dimension out of the quarterback position that creates havoc with defenders.
Last season he not only threw for 2,406 yards and 16 touchdowns but ran for 772 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per carry, while scoring 13 rushing touchdowns.
However, facing a stingy Penn State defense -- which was No. 1 against the rush in the nation last season -- Greene ran just 10 times for a net of just 5 yards. This was tempered with two snap mistakes -- both of which Greene took responsibility for -- which resulted in 26 negative rushing yards.
In addition, he failed to gain a first down on a quarterback sneak of less than a yard, a play that was almost automatic last season, perhaps due to the presence of center Zach Frazier, and barely got the yard on another.
Both Brown and Greene felt he picked up the first down that came up short after watching film.
"I think I got it, but it's obviously not my call," Greene said.
But Greene seemed to feel a reluctance to run in the opener, something that had to have something to do with Penn State's defensive scheme, but also perhaps due to a long off-season of working to improve what was a 53% completion rate last year.
Whatever the reason, what transpired was not what Brown wanted to see.
"He bypassed three really big opportunities to run last week to throw contested passes where he could have pulled the ball down and run anywhere from 20 to 35 yards on each of those," Brown said.
Greene can't be a pass-first quarterback in a run-first offense, which is how WVU visualizes itself.
"As an offense and football team, we need him to run," Brown went on. "One of them would have been a for-sure touchdown. We need for him to be who he is."
His ability to escape and run, using exceptional speed and fearlessly challenging defenders, ignites not only the offense, but it lights up the fans and the Mountaineer defense.
Tom Brady may have been the best quarterback ever, but it is the Patrick Mahomeses and Lamar Jacksons of the NFL who create the excitement that comes with a police drama car chase.
"Not just him, but quarterbacks who are dual threats. hear people talk about that they need to be this or that, in the pass game" Brown observed. "Well, what makes Garrett Greene unique is his playmaking ability."
Greene's value is in his ability to make any play a potential breakaway touchdown.
"For us offensively to be what we can potentially be, we have to have that aspect of his game. We need to call pass plays and have him pull the ball down and run. We need those kinds of plays," Brown said.
Unexpectedly, it was Penn State quarterback Drew Allar who energized the game with his running ability.
"Especially on the first drive of the second half," Brown noted. "On third-and-8-plusses, he pulled the ball down and ran. I said all last week the kid is a good athlete and he played better last year than some Penn State fans want to allude to."
Two 12-yard scrambles led to a Penn State touchdown that broke open the game while Greene could not make an impact with his legs because of missed opportunities.
"One of those rushes [he missed] was on a third down and one in the red zone where Garrett definitely could have changed the game by making the decision to run rather than forcing the ball passing," Brown said.
So UAlbany, an FCS opponent who last year went to the national semifinal in that division and finished at 11-4, can expect to see Greene try to regain his dynamic running style as the Mountaineers look to get a victory to carry into next week's Backyard Brawl meeting with Pitt in Pittsburgh.
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