MORGANTOWN — West Virginia football’s 15th and final spring practice is almost two weeks in the rearview mirror. Now comes the long dead period before fall camp starts in August. Rich Rodriguez answered some questions over his twice-weekly press conferences this spring, but there are still a lot of questions unanswered.

The biggest question, like last season, is who will start at quarterback when Game 1 comes around when the Mountaineers host Coastal Carolina on Sept. 5. Last year, in Year 1 under Rodriguez, WVU’s quarterback battle was between Nicco Marchiol, Jaylen Henderson, Max Brown, Khalil Wilkins and the long-shot true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. Marchiol won the battle in the end, starting Week 1 against Robert Morris.

The writing was kind of on the wall leading up to the first game that Marchiol would be the starter. He was a more experienced quarterback and had played for WVU the year prior, starting in a couple of games throughout his career. Marchiol was also the most capable passer of the group and could still run. He was the first quarterback to speak with the media, the first one taking reps during the spring game and was the first one Rodriguez would talk about when asked about the quarterbacks.

Regarding this season, the quarterback battle doesn’t have as many options. It’s kind of a two-horse race based on inference. Returner Fox is in the mix, and new transfer quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. is also fighting for the starting role. Brown could be in contention, too, and actually looked pretty solid during the spring game. But, last year, Rodriguez spoke about how Marchiol and Henderson were the “more experienced guys,” and were learning the offense a lot quicker than the rest of the field, and this spring, Rodriguez has spoken about Fox and Hawkins the same way. With a grain of salt, because it is May, Fox and Hawkins seem to be the two options.

With those two being the options, I think Fox will be the starter come fall. That’s a think, not he should be the starter in the fall. The difference is think is what I think will happen based on what Rodriguez has said, prior history and what happens in practice, not what I want or should happen. I was pretty spot on last year, because despite the hype around Henderson transferring in from Texas A&M, I was pretty confident Marchiol would start Week 1.

Fox, and Brown are the only two quarterbacks who have a full year under Rodriguez. Fox played in nine games and made five starts, winning some games, including a ranked win over Houston on the road. He takes the edge because he’s actually started and won some games for Rodriguez. Knowing the system is a huge factor because it makes it easier to install new plays and run the offense efficiently.

Fox is usually the quarterback Rodriguez brings up first when he talks about the quarterbacks, similarly to how Rodriguez did it last year with Marchiol. Fox was also the first quarterback to speak to the media this season, appearing on the “3 Guys Before the Game” Podcast the other day.

Also, so far, Fox seems to be the best pure passer of the group. He didn’t miss a pass on the opening drive of the spring game, and last year, was the first WVU QB to have two games of 300 or more passing yards in a season since 2021.

But why not Hawkins?

Hawkins transferred in this offseason from Oklahoma and was a former 4-star. He’s a rushing quarterback and can throw if needed. Hawkins looks like he fits Rodriguez’s offense better. He has also started in Power Four games just like Fox did. Hawkins has experience.

He has also been listed as the projected starter on multiple sites and is WVU’s quarterback representative on FanDuel’s Heisman Trophy future bet. He’s at +35,000 for those curious. But that doesn’t mean much because last season, Henderson was listed on multiple sites as the projected starter, WVU’s QB1 in the NCAA game, and betting sites as well.

Hawkins, coming in the offseason, is still learning the offense. Rodriguez said he’s picked it up quickly, but still, there’s a lot to learn in a short amount of time. Maybe Hawkins will pick it up more in the summer and fall, but as of now, Fox knows and has been in the offense longer.

At Oklahoma, one of Hawkins’ weaknesses was that he wasn’t really consistent at completing throws. And, if you want to take the short time we saw during the spring game, Hawkins missed badly on a lot of throws. I wouldn’t look too much into that, though, because that’s just a small performance over the entire spring.

I just feel like when Week 1 comes around, Fox will be the first quarterback trotted out. He seems to be following a similar path to Marchiol last offseason, leading up to being the starter.

That doesn’t mean things can change from now until Sept. 5. It’s May. For all we know, Rodriguez could use both of them, and I think he wants to if he can. Have Fox out there for most of the plays and play Hawkins on certain packages. That’s a possibility.

As of May 1st, and again it’s May, from what I’ve seen and heard this spring, I think Fox starts on Sept. 5. We probably won’t know for sure for a long time, leaving us a lot of time to debate.