MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jahiem White says his No. 1 goal this year is to score more touchdowns.
 
White getting into the end zone more frequently will be music to the ears of Mountaineer fans who enjoyed watching him burst onto the scene toward the latter part of 2023.
 
White teased us with his 12-carry, 110-yard performance early in the year against Duquesne before going into hibernation against Pitt, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State.
 
Then, he took off with a nine-carry, 85-yard, one-touchdown effort in a win at UCF before exploding for 146 yards in a 37-7 home victory over BYU. Two weeks later, he had a season-high 279 all-purpose yards against Cincinnati, which also included a 75-yard touchdown reception, and contributed 133 yards on the ground and a 29-yard touchdown catch to defeat Baylor at the end of the regular season.
 
Over his last four games, White totaled 522 yards on only 63 attempts for an impressive 8.2 yards per carry. For the season, the York, Pennsylvania, resident accounted for 842 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, and 125 yards and two scores through the air.
 
So, what was the difference between the first and second halves of his freshman season?
 
"There really wasn't a difference, I just didn't get the chance to get on the field the first half of the season because of little injuries that I had, but once I got on the field the second half of the season I just took off," White explained earlier this week.
 
Indeed, he did!
 
His 7.7 yards-per-carry average is the best by any runner in school history with at least 100 attempts. Bobby Moss averaged 8.2 yards per rush in 1955 but did so on just 98 carries.
 
The only other guys with at least 100 attempts to average 7.0 yards per rush in a season are Pat White twice in 2005 and 2006, Steve Slaton in 2006 and Justin Crawford in 2016. 

WVU's All-Time Single-Season Average Per Carry Leaders
(Minimum 100 attempts; Bobby Moss averaged 8.2 yards per carry on 98 attempts in 1955)
 
 1. Jahiem White, 7.7 (2023)
 2. Pat White, 7.4 (2006)
 3. Justin Crawford, 7.3 (2016)
 4. Pat White, 7.3 (2005)
 5. Steve Slaton, 7.0 (2006)
 6. Pat White, 6.8 (2008)
 7. Artie Owens, 6.6 (1975)
 8. Artie Owens, 6.5 (1974)
 9. Garrett Greene, 6.4 (2023)
10. Wendell Smallwood, 6.4 (2015)
11. Garrett Ford, 6.4 (1965)
12. Noel Devine, 6.3 (2008)
13. Bob Gresham, 6.2 (1970)
14. Noel Devine, 6.1 (2009)
15. Kerry Marbury, 6.1 (1971)
16. Major Harris, 6.0 (1989)
 
That's it!
 
That should give you an idea of where Jahiem White already sits among the most explosive runners in WVU history.
 
Pro Football Focus gave White a grade of 89.1 in 2023, making him one of the highest-graded freshmen runners since it began collecting data on college players in 2014. The only others with higher grades are Washington's Myles Gaskin in 2015, Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor in 2017 and Kansas' Pooka Williams in 2018.
 
White also finished with the ninth-best grade among all power conference running backs. He was named to the On3 Sports and College Football Network Freshmen All-America teams, while earning second team honors from The Athletic.
 
When you factor in quarterback Garrett Greene's 6.4 yards-per-carry average on 120 attempts last year, you are talking about West Virginia's most potent one-two backfield tandem since Slaton and White in 2006.
 
Both averaged better than 7.0 yards per carry that season to lead an offense that ranked second in the country in rushing and third in scoring. What Slaton and White did that year to really separate themselves from the others was their ability to finish explosive runs. The duo that year broke off 14 touchdown runs of at least 30 yards, including six of 50 yards or longer.
 
In 2023, Greene and White combined for 12 rushes of more than 25 yards, but only Greene managed to take one of those into the end zone against Cincinnati.
 
White ripped off a 53-yard run against Baylor, a 47-yard run against Cincinnati, a 39-yard run against Duquesne, a pair of 32-yard runs against BYU and another 32-yarder versus UCF. All of them ended with the end zone still in front of him.
 
"BYU, I left a couple out there, and I could have gotten in against Cincinnati on the one run I had going toward the band," White said. "There were a couple more games I should have scored."
 
Scoring touchdowns is what really matters when evaluating running backs, something of which White is aware. That's why he is working hard this spring to finish off those long runs so he can celebrate with his teammates in the end zone.
 
"My main thing was finishing my runs after the plays are done, probably go like 30 yards past the defense just to get a game-like rep," he admitted.
 
White believes he can improve his speed and acceleration after he gets into the second level after another summer working with strength coach Mike Joseph and his staff.
 
Joseph once worked his magic on Greene, taking him from a fast runner to a really fast runner who can now hit 21 miles per hour on the GPS tracker. If that happens with White, watch out, because he has the ball skills to make explosive plays in the pass game as well.
 
White won the Baylor game with his hands, and he also matched roommate Traylon Ray's longest play from scrimmage against North Carolina when White caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Greene against Cincinnati.
 
His ability to catch the football is another one of his God-given gifts that White finds difficult to explain.
 
"I'm not going to lie, I just think it was really in me from when I first started when I was in little league," he said. "I would get swing routes and little slants, and it was like automatically glued to my hands.
"Catching in traffic is like one of the big things. Coach (Chad) Scott says, 'You are going to get hit, regardless, so just catch the ball.' That's my mindset from playing football all my years," White said.
 
Despite the loss of All-American center Zach Frazier and three-year starter Doug Nester on the offensive line, White believes the unit, with five of its top seven players returning from last year, will not miss a beat this fall.
 
He says he's got all the confidence in the world in them.
 
"I think the young O-linemen are really improving and I'm comfortable with the whole O-line, and I feel comfortable running behind them. I love all of them," he said.
 
As for this year's offense, White believes the sky is the limit for the Mountaineers in 2024.
 
"I think we can do a lot," he admitted. "Our whole offense, including our receiver corps, is talented. We've got (Oklahoma State transfer) Jaden Bray, and he's like a dog. He goes and gets everything in the air. We've got Rodney (Gallagher), Traylon Ray, Huddy (Hudson Clement) and Preston Fox. Our whole offense, we can really take it far, for real."
 
White, Ray and Gallagher will be able to spend a lot of time talking about these things this fall once they move into the same apartment together. All three get along great.
 
"Once we all came in together and kicked it off the field a little bit, it was just an automatic click, like we're the trio," he laughed.
 
Perhaps they can also talk about all those touchdowns they plan on scoring for the Mountaineers this year. White admits he's been thinking about it.
 
"Yeah, I've got some new celebrations for the season," he laughed. 
 
"I feel like I've had a great spring with all of the little things, workouts, practice, off-the-field stuff and everything," White concluded.
 
West Virginia has a final workout scheduled for Thursday morning ahead of Saturday's Gold-Blue Game inside Milan Puskar Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon.
 
Updated ticket, parking, television and radio information on the spring game was released yesterday.