Nicco Marchiol claims the Smoking Musket Game Ball as Mountaineers roll past Robert Morris

Each week we hand out our Smoking Musket Game Ball to one Mountaineer, and you decide the winner. Fans vote here on the site, plus on Facebook and X, and the ballots are combined into one final tally. The Game Ball goes to the clear standout.

Helmet Stickers highlight the other performances that made a difference. They may not win the headline prize, but they still deserve recognition for their impact.

And with that — let’s get to this week’s winners.

GAME BALL

Nicco Marchiol

Y’all spoke, and it wasn’t even close — Nicco ran

away with the Week 1 Game Ball after putting together the best performance of his career so far. The redshirt junior looked calm and in control from the opening drive, completing 17 of 20 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown while adding 56 rushing yards and another score on the ground. He finished with a career-best 85% completion rate, and showed how well he’s grabbed ahold of Rich Rod’s offense. It was the kind of efficient, mistake-free outing WVU has been waiting for at quarterback.

HELMET STICKERS

Jahiem White

White picked up right where he left off last season, running hard between the tackles and finishing in the end zone. He posted 93 rushing yards on 18 carries and found pay dirt twice, marking the first multi-touchdown game of his career. For an offense that coughed the ball up too often, White was the steady hand.\. He’s now scored in three of the last four games dating back to last November, and his consistency makes him one of the most reliable weapons on the roster.

Cam Vaughn

Vaughn’s debut in the gold and blue had a little bit of everything — the bad and the brilliant. He lost a fumble near deep in the red zone in the first half, but instead of shrinking, he came back and delivered in a big way. Vaughn finished with a team-high 127 yards on seven catches, including a 46-yard touchdown strike from Nicco Marchiol in the fourth quarter. That bounce-back moment not only helped seal the game, but also showed exactly why he was trusted with a starting spot.

Scotty Fox

It’s not often a true freshman makes an instant impression like Fox did. On just his second play from scrimmage, he broke free for a 59-yard touchdown run — WVU’s longest scoring rush since 2021. It was a glimpse of what’s to come for a player who has already turned heads in camp. Fox’s speed and decisiveness brought the crowd to its feet and put an exclamation point on a dominant second half. One carry doesn’t make a career, but it’s hard to imagine a better start.

Reid Carrico

Carrico was everywhere on Saturday. The linebacker posted a career-best 2.0 tackles for loss, part of four total stops on the day, and set the tone in the middle of the defense. His physical play against the run helped shut down Robert Morris before anything could get started, and his aggressiveness was a big part of WVU limiting the Colonials to just 123 total yards. For a player who’s been waiting for his chance to shine, this was a statement game.

Hammond Russell

Russell had the best day of his career and looked like a nightmare in the trenches. He finished with 2.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks, constantly collapsing the pocket and keeping Robert Morris’s quarterback on the run. His pressure helped spark a fumble that flipped momentum, and it gave WVU fans a taste of what this new-look defensive front is capable of. If Russell keeps bringing that kind of disruption, this defense is going to be fun to watch all season.

Chase Wilson

Wilson delivered one of the most overlooked but meaningful plays of the day when he forced a second-quarter fumble — WVU’s first forced fumble since November 2022. That stat alone says plenty about how much the defense has changed in just one offseason. Wilson also chipped in multiple tackles and flew to the ball, helping WVU’s linebackers set the tone. It was a gritty, hustle-driven performance that deserved recognition, especially for sparking a takeaway drought that had stretched nearly two years.

That’s Week 1 in the books. Nicco grabbed the Game Ball with ease, and plenty of Mountaineers earned their stickers with big plays on both sides of the ball. The opponent gets tougher next week when WVU heads to Athens to take on Ohio, and we’ll see which names rise to the top when the votes roll in again.

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