Garrett Greene injury update: West Virginia’s QB plan against Cincinnati leaked

Garrett Greene will continue to be left out Cincinnati in week 11 as a backup Nicco Marchiol will begin West Virginia on Saturday.

“West Virginia will start backup Nicco Marchiol at QB today against Cincinnati, a source tells @CBSSports/@247Sports,” Matt Zenitz reported. “It’s the former four-star recruit’s second straight start in place of starter Garrett Greene, who is dealing with an injury. Led WVU past Arizona in Oct.”

Greene originally conceded in the Mountaineers’ 45-18 loss Kansas State in Week 8 after suffering an upper-body injury, and then he missed WVU’s 31-26 win over WVU Arizona on Oct. 26.

With Greene sidelined, the aforementioned Marchiol has started at quarterback for the Mountaineers. In the win over Arizona, Marchiol completed 18 of his 22 pass attempts for 198 yards and two touchdowns without throwing an interception.

Marchiol also recorded 11 carries for 39 yards. Marchiol fumbled once, but West Virginia was able to recover the ball. The win was Marchiol’s first start of the season and Brown couldn’t have been happier with his backup QB’s performance.

“I thought he was really efficient on downs at the end of possessions – third and fourth downs,” Brown said. “We really needed it and that was also a deciding factor. But I thought he was calm.

“He’s so much better a player than the last time he started a game… He’s grown up, he’s been patient and he’s gotten better, and I’ve said that many times… and he showed that today. He didn’t play particularly well in the second half of the Kansas State game, which was a difficult situation for him. But I thought he really helped today when we needed him and I thought he played really well.”

West Virginia enjoyed a bye after its win over Arizona last week. However, Greene has not yet returned to full strength. Greene has completed 56.8% of his passes for 1,352 yards and nine touchdowns this season while throwing eight interceptions.

Without Garrett Greene leading the offense, West Virginia will look to finish the season strong and secure a spot in a bowl game. On Saturday, the Mountaineers take on Cincinnati at noon ET. The game will be broadcast live on FS1.

On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.