news-engine

The West Virginia Mountaineers have been looking to get back to that sustained level of success they were able to have 20 years ago. The program was able to dominate in the Big East Conference and had a superstar under center who was able to lead the program to consistent victories. Let’s take a deeper dive into who is being honored with a jersey retirement in Morgantown. Pat White’s No. 5 jersey is retired by the West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are not a program who have retired many jerseys throughout its history. The program has now retired its second quarterback jersey, after retiring No. 5 for Pat White. White was considered one of the best players in college football throughout his time, but was unable to see that success outside of West Virginia. He made sure the program was winning games, winning a bowl game in all four years that he was with the Mountaineers. During his collegiate career, White was named the 2006 and 2007 Big East Offensive Player of the Year. He would finish just outside of the Heisman Trophy finalists, being sixth and seventh, respectively. Throughout his four-year career with the West Virginia Mountaineers, White would complete 507 of 783 (64.8%) of his passes for 6,049 yards with 56 passing touchdowns to 23 interceptions, while also running the football 684 times for 4,480 yards (6.5 yards per attempt) with 47 rushing touchdowns. NBC’s Devin McCourty had some glowing words for the former West Virginia quarterback, who faced him three times during his own collegiate career: “He was the guy that you thought you had a good game plan for. On paper, everything was covered and you knew how they were going to attack you. Then the moment came to make the play on him, and it never happened. He made you miss or he made the great throw against good coverage. He was unstoppable.” Being a quarterback who operated mainly in a wildcat offense. He was drafted in the second round (44th overall) by the Miami Dolphins in 2009. His NFL career ended in January 2010 after a concussion left him unconscious. He would play in the UFL, be part of Washington, and play in the CFL before retiring. It will be intriguing to think of what his NFL career would have looked like if he ran a similar offense as what he did with the West Virginia Mountaineers.