CFF Targets - Dual Threat WVU Gunslinger is... Actually Good?
VP takes a look at a surprise standout Mountaineer
I was really lucky I was able to salvage this wood from an old seamen’s chapel in Nantucket…
- Owen Wilson, Meet the Parents (2000)
I discovered WVU’s QB Garrett Greene on accident whilst writing about WVU standout WR Devin Carter earlier last month over at Campus2Canton. In it, I joked that I might have to do a separate writeup for Greene based on his late season performance—well, today is that day.
The quarterback's path to starter was marked by a serendipitous encounter with history. As fate would have it, he stumbled upon an opportunity to salvage wood from an old seamen's chapel in Nantucket. The weathered planks that once sheltered sailors found new purpose in his hands, becoming the very foundation upon which his dreams were built. That is—former five star journeyman JT Daniels simply wasn’t cutting it as the starter (where have we seen that before…), forcing the Mountaineer brass to shift gears and roll with the more mobile up-and-comer in Stetson—excuse me—Garrett Greene. The WVU gunslinger took the torch and ran with it in his first two games, scoring over 29 FPs (standard scoring) in both. Following the pattern of under-sized QBs to replace JT Daniels as starter, I guess we should be expecting Greene to lead the Mountaineers to a natty this season, right? Okay, not quite, but I do think there is some potential magic from a CFF perspective.
Coaching & System
I’ll spare the reader the trouble here—the patterns of the staff are not pretty as it relates to QB play. The best statistical season under head coach Neal Brown (WVU HC 2019-present) was Jarrett Doege, who passed for 3048 yards on 417 attempts, converting 19 TDs to 12 INT. Doege compiled a shocking -141 rushing yards, but he did add another score on the ground. Clearly not a dual threat, and neither was last season’s starter JT Daniels, who lost his spot in November.
At Troy, Brown’s best statistical season from the QB position during his tenure (2015-2018) was Brandon Silvers in the 2016 season. Silvers threw for 3180 passing yards, 23 TDs to 12 INTs, and ran for 128 yards and 4 TDs.
The OC—Chad Scott, is also the RBs coach, and has been with Brown at WVU since 2019 as well. So has pass game coordinator and QBs coach Sean Reagan. In Reagan’s last year of calling plays at Troy, his two QBs carried the ball 57 and 74 times for 261 and 191 yards.
But none of these gentlemen have had a dual threat QB like Greene. In his first two games taking over from JT, Greene ran 14 and 12 times for a total of 136 yards and 3 TDs. As mentioned above, it’s the mobility that Greene offers that probably gave him the nod late in the year over JT, and this staff would be crazy not to let him keep rolling.
There’s also this little nugget that came out at the BIG-12 media day, Brown calling plays generally bodes well for the RB position—I’ve written about CJ Donaldson here; and is also probably a better alternative for the QB than Chad Scott calling plays.
So, as I said, not a lot to write home about from a C&S perspective, but there’s reason to believe things could be changing around Morgantown.
QB Garrett Greene — 5’11, 190
Mr. Greene is entering his fourth year of college football with the Mountaineers by way of Tallahassee, FL. As a backup throughout his career, the former three star’s 2020, 2021, and 2022 season stats are not really telling for our purposes. However, in the final three games of the season last year (after taking over from JT Daniels), Green scored 34.42, 29.06 and 10.62 points vs. Oklahoma, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State.
He is entering 2023 as the defacto starter for WVU, and he had a strong spring game. Green completed 8 of 11 passes for 156 yards and a score, and actually added a reception for 40 yards and another TD. I don’t know if WVU is going to be using Greene as a receiver much in the actual season, but the variety of usage from the spring is a good sign. We want him using his legs and arm. Side note, he connected with WR Devin Carter on 3 passes for 77 yards. I’ve written about Carter here.
While it’s a limited sample size, the two games vs. Oklahoma and Kansas State (potentially two of the best teams WVU faced last year), are an exciting glimpse of what could be in 2023. The Mountaineers will have a somewhat veteran offensive line to rely on, and a battering ram at RB to take some of the pressure off Greene. While many predict WVU to be one of the worst programs in the Power Five this season, that could actually benefit the QB production. As long as they’re in a variety of close games and forced to throw the ball and keep the foot on the accelerator, no complaints here.
Concerns
The first is that Greene is a smaller QB and yet is a dual threat player. That can be a recipe for disaster from a health standpoint.
We have basically three starts to go off of for Greene, so this profile is a major projection.
Who is Greene going to be throwing to? I’ve written about NC State transfer Devin Carter, who had a very strong spring, and there is Kent State transfer Ja’Shaun Poke, but neither of those players are proven commodities at this Power Five level.
WVU could struggle to convert scores this season.
Closing
Greene currently holds an ADP of 224.7 in CFF formats, which is equivalent to the 18th round in 12-team leagues. That’s probably reasonable all things considered, and in most CFF leagues he’s going undrafted. I think I will target him at the very end of drafts where I might have missed out on some other late round QBs that I want. QB is always so deep, that I generally think players like Greene at cost are better bets than paying up to get the top guys.
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