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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (�����Ƶ News) �����Ƶ� There may be better football players in West Virginia's 2022 recruiting class than Nicco Marchiol, but there are none more important.

There may be an All-American or two in the group of 22 that was announced on Wednesday, a figure that is expected to grow into the new maximum of 32 recruits before they kick off next season against Pitt, but none will get more attention than Marchiol through the spring and summer.

He isn't asking to be the focus of this year's recruiting class, probably would be content not to be the face of the group, but no one is asking him what he wants.

He's the quarterback, a freshman quarterback with four stars besides his name on the recruiting sites, and coach Neal Brown understands what that means.

"Offensively, a high school quarterback is the focal point of any class," Brown said as he got into looking at what he now has put his and the �����ƵU football team's future on. "Quarterbacks develop leadership skills within their class, first and foremost, which is something we felt Nicco definitely did."

Brown sees things in Marchiol that you can't teach and that transcend the boundaries of the football field.

"He's got the it factor," Brown said. "I think he's going to be a guy who is going to be a fan favorite from Day 1."

And just why does Brown feel that way?

"He's got charisma. He's got strong leadership capabilities. He loves football. He's been groomed from an early age by his father Ken to be a Division 1 and hopefully an NFL quarterback," Brown explained.

But it's deeper than even that.

"When you go watch him play, he's left-handed, the ball comes out of his hand really smooth, he's got a strong arm, he's a physical runner and he's a great teammate," was the way Brown described him.

The physical assets, obviously, are what will put points on the board and make fans cheer like they did for Will Grier and Clint Trickett and Geno Smith and Pat White.

We leave Skyler Howard out of that group not because they did not cheer him, too, but because he was one of those love-me-or-hate-me quarterbacks, a player who played far better than he was given credit for and did so, perhaps, with far fewer physical skills than White, Smith or Grier.

In some ways, Brown's description of Marchiol is a combination of all those guys, packaged to win football games.

"He's a good kid," Brown stressed. "And when you go watch and are able to just sit back and see what he's doing you notice he's the first to congratulate someone when they score and the first to go greet the defense when they come off the field.

"So, he's talented but he's also got these other intangibles that make you go, 'OK, these are the that take someone talented and really make him special,'" Brown said.

It has been a long while since �����ƵU recruited a freshman quarterback who started for them. Doege was a transfer, Austin Kendall was a transfer. Grier was a transfer. Howard was a transfer. Trickett was a transfer.

In fact, the last QB to start for �����ƵU who was recruited by them out of high school was Chris Chugunov, who replaced Grier after he injured his hand in the Texas game. Chugunov started the season's final two games.

Certainly, there are all kinds of questions swirling around the �����ƵU quarterback situation as this year comes to an end. The first question, of course, is will Jarret Doege return for the extra year of eligibility he has been granted due to COVID?

If he does, he certainly would be the leader in the clubhouse for the starting job next year as he brings the one thing that the other quarterbacks on the roster can't and that's starting experience.

In fact, only Smith, Marc Bulger, Grier and Howard have more career passing yards than Doege at West Virginia; only Smith and Bulger have more completions.

Doege would go into camp with competition for the job even if Marchiol weren't on the team with Garrett Greene offering an option to run a more run-oriented offense and with Goose Crowder having gotten a redshirt year under his belt and having impressed.

But the man of the hour right now is Marchiol and if Brown is right about him there will be a great temptation and, perhaps, outcry from the fans to start him.

Can you do that with a true freshman?

"Let's get him first," Brown answered when asked that question. "I think there's a lot of freshmen that play college football, not many quarterbacks, though. I'll be able to give you a better answer to that during spring practice. Right now, it's to be determined."

There is a lot more included in that answer than there seems to be, because it wasn't anywhere near a flat no ... and it certainly made it sound like Brown already is considering the prospects of doing that.

Certainly, he believes Marchiol has the right make up for it.

"He's a tough guy and it's a really athletic family," Brown said. "He grew up as the youngest of three boys and they are really competitive. His dad was a college football player. He's been around competitive athletics for a long time.

"The one thing that stood out to me, especially we started recruiting him heavily last spring, is he handles adversity more than a lot of young quarterbacks."

And if he were to be rushed in as a starter, he surely would have to deal with adversity, which comes with the job.

So what kind of quarterback is Marchiol?

He's a pro style QB out of Hamilton High in Chandler, Ariz, one good enough to entertain 27 offers including (listed alphabetically, even though that is one more than the alphabet itself):

Arizona State, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Penn State, Rutgers, TCU, USC, Utah and Washington State.

It's understandable when you realize he was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Arizona, the first from his school to take down that honor. In his high school career he threw for 8,310 yards and rushed for 1,301.

�����Ƶ a senior he led the team to the state semifinal by completing 203 of 274 passes, which is 74.4%, for a school-record 2,690 yards with 37 touchdowns.

And he's the perfect match to be taking snaps from All-American center Zach Frazier as he is a three-time state wrestling champion, Frazier, of course, also having been a four-time state wrestling champion who lost only two matches while at Fairmont Senior.