Major Possiblities
May 12, 2006 04:41 PM | General
May 12, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – How could a guy who threw for all of 828 yards last season be considered one of college football’s most exciting, up and coming quarterbacks? Well, when you’ve got a pair of legs like West Virginia’s Patrick White (it used to be Pat but he now prefers Patrick because his mom has been getting on him about that) it’s hard not to get enthused about perhaps the most entertaining QB to come through Morgantown since a guy named Major Harris was running around here.
 |
||
| Quarterback Patrick White ranks second among all-time freshmen rushers at West Virginia with 952 yards last season.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
White’s possibilities are, um, Major.
Like Harris did his freshman season in 1987, White in 2005 relied on his feet and instincts first and his arm second. Harris didn’t throw for 200 yards in a single game his first year, passing for just 100 yards per contest. But what a set of wheels Harris had on him.
Same goes for White, whose best passing performance came during last year’s Nokia Sugar Bowl when he completed 11 of his 14 tries for 120 yards and a touchdown against Georgia. The sophomore-to-be ran for 77 yards against the Bulldogs’ nationally ranked defense, capping off a late-season surge that saw him run for 111 yards in a 38-0 win at Cincinnati, 220 yards in a 45-13 victory over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, and 177 yards on the road at South Florida to complete the regular season. That’s about as much territory as George Patton’s Third Army accumulated during its mad dash through the Ardennes in 1944.
Quarterbacks just don’t run for that kind of yardage unless you’re Michael Robinson or Vince Young, which The Sporting News’ Matt Hayes recently compared White to.
That’s probably still a little bit of a stretch, but there is no denying White’s terrific athletic ability. He is one of the fastest players on the team, just getting edged out by running back Steve Slaton in a 60-yard race the two ran earlier this spring to see who was faster. And White also has a howitzer for an arm, once turning down a lucrative professional baseball contract offer from the Anaheim Angels -- an organization that had visions of him patrolling center field like Jim Edmonds now does for the St. Louis Cardinals.
But what really sets White apart from others is his moxie. His big brother Bo, a graduate assistant coach for the offense, says Patrick was always on winning teams when he was growing up in Daphne, Ala. Offensive coordinator Calvin Magee noticed during White’s redshirt year that the scout team offense was always scoring touchdowns when he was quarterbacking it. Magee told ESPN’s Bruce Feldman earlier this spring that White is the best leader he’s been around since he played professionally with Steve Young in Tampa Bay.
 |
||
| White, like Harris in the late 80s, has become a fan favorite.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Coach Rich Rodriguez knew from the moment he first saw White on tape in high school that he was a perfect fit for his no-huddle, spread offense while others like LSU, Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee saw him strictly as a wide receiver.
Rodriguez has always sought out the best athletes, especially at quarterback -- a position everything revolves around on the football field. Rodriguez first came up with his idea of running this type of system when he was a volunteer coach on Don Nehlen's staff watching how effective Harris played as a dual-threat quarterback. Now, with all the success West Virginia had running the ball last year with White operating in a backfield with Slaton and Owen Schmitt, Rodriguez fully expects teams to try and force White to put the football in the air this fall.
“We’ve got to be prepared to throw the ball more as we’ve said in years past,” Rodriguez said recently. “Teams can outnumber you and they can force you at times to throw the football.”
White showed in the spring game that he’s prepared to throw the ball if needed, completing 23 of 30 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown. Some, like Greg Hunter of the Blue & Gold News who watch spring practice on a regular basis, have noticed White’s improving passing accuracy. White says it can be even better.
“I still need to work hard on it this summer when we’re on our own,” White says.
Summertime is extremely important for White and West Virginia’s unproven corps of wide receivers. Because coaches aren’t permitted to be around, the summer is the time when the team’s leaders really emerge. Rodriguez credits a large summer turnout last year as one of the big reasons why his team was able to go 11-1 and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
“When we started in August with the coaches they were ready to go,” Rodriguez said. “The same has to happen this summer and if they’re not then that sends a bad message. I’d be shocked if they’re not as good or better this summer.”
White knows he’s now one of the guys expected to make sure everyone is here and working hard during the off season, even if it means getting on the phone and demanding guys get up here if he has to.
 |
||
| Quarterback Major Harris led West Virginia to an undefeated regular season in 1988 and a meeting in the Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame for the national championship.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
“That’s part of my job,” he says. “I expect everybody to be here working hard just like we do every year. Nothing is going to change.”
Many believe White’s ability to throw the football and West Virginia’s group of receivers catching it may ultimately determine how successful the team is in 2006.
“We have the talent there and we have the system and the scheme to do it. If those guys get confidence in themselves over the summer and pick it up in August, we’ll be ready to throw the ball,” Rodriguez said.
White says the offense was able to accomplish a lot this spring even though the defense got the better of them at times.
“I think we had a real good spring,” he said. “The defense put it to us for most of the spring but that’s only going to make us better and make us work a little bit harder.”
“Our goal is to get better every day this summer when they work out and when they get back with the coaches in August so that we can try and become a better football team than we were last year,” Rodriguez said.
If that were to happen, the Mountaineers could find themselves back in the desert on Jan. 8, 2007, playing in the Fiesta Bowl for a national championship. The last time that happened in 1989 … you guessed it, a guy named Major Harris was quarterbacking the Mountaineers. Now wouldn’t that be ironic?
