During West Virginia’s loss to Ohio, there was a lot of noise regarding a quarterback switch. Everywhere on social media, there was talk about swapping out starter Nicco Marchiol for another option, and the consensus was turning to true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. Even former WVU kicker Pat McAfee on social media said, “Scotty Fox.. the freshman sensation.. is gonna come in and win this for the Mountaineers.”

Fox didn’t come in and win the game. He remained on the sideline and helped give signs.

There was a brief swap at quarterback, but it wasn’t Fox. Texas A&M transfer Jaylen Henderson was subbed in for two drives and netted -7 yards. Marchiol came back in and closed out the loss.

Henderson’s not the only quarterback ahead of Fox in the depth chart, either. Charlotte transfer Max Brown is more likely to see action. The order quarterbacks came out for Robert Morris were Marchiol, Henderson, then Fox, but Brown didn’t dress due to an injury. He dressed against Ohio. During the Gold-Blue game, Brown was the third QB out there.

So why do so many want Fox over the other options? Fox is like a rookie quarterback who could be the future of the program.

Fox was the lone QB in Rich Rodriguez’s first recruiting class of his second tenure at WVU. He was ranked the 55th quarterback in the 2025 class and ranked the 37th recruit out of Ohio. Fox was a consensus 3-star.

Rodriguez praised Fox in the offseason. On his radio show last Monday, Rodriguez said Fox has a “great future” with the Mountaineers.

“He’s physical and knows how to run,” Rodriguez said. “But he’s also got one of the quickest releases of any quarterback, I think I’ve ever had, which is a really neat thing. He’s still young. He’s still learning.”

In Fox’s lone appearance against Robert Morris, Fox played three snaps. The first was a 4-yard rush. Then, he completed a short pass for 8 yards to Logan Ramper. His third snap was the highlight. Fox stiff-armed a defender and took off for a 59-yard touchdown. In three plays, Fox went 71 yards for a touchdown.

There was definitely a lot of excitement around Fox for the short time on the field. However, it was against an FCS defense, so you have to take his performance with a grain of salt.

“I think all of those guys will get better as the season goes on,” Rodriguez said after Robert Morris.

Rodriguez isn’t hesitating to burn red shirts either.

“When we go into it, that’d be part of your mindset of who are we going to red shirt,” Rodriguez said. “What are we going to do, red shirt them for the next coach or next team? Hell with that. If they can help at all, the freshmen, them suckers will play.”

Why doesn’t Rodriguez play Fox? He’s still really young and has a lot to learn.

Rodriguez went with Marchiol because he’s a veteran and played a lot of college football. He might not have played a lot in games, but this is his fourth year in college. Rodriguez said multiple times that Marchiol and Henderson picked up the offense a lot quicker than some of the younger players, like Fox.

After Robert Morris, Rodriguez said he went with Marchiol because he was the most consistent and fulfilled Rodriguez’s metric of being “good enough” to win with. He was against Robert Morris and looked like a promising starter.

The narrative quickly changed after the ugly loss.

Rodriguez didn’t have an update on whether there’ll be a quarterback change after Ohio, but if Marchiol continues to not be good enough to win with, like against Ohio, and the season is lost, maybe Fox could see some action, like some rookie quarterbacks in the NFL.

“Of course, there’s a big, big learning curve for him,” quarterbacks coach Rhett Rodriguez said on Fox. “But he’s been really impressive.”