Who’s next?: Someone has to replace Pat White on and off the field
Bill Stewart still remembers those magical Thursday nights.
The nationally televised wins over Pittsburgh, Maryland, Louisville and Auburn. They were a major part of the foundation for stamping West Virginia as a Big East powerhouse over the past four years.
Such sweet memories, all fueled by a fleet-footed quarterback who broke a score of records in his four superb years in Morgantown.
‘Patrick White was a shining knight in each one of those games,’ Stewart, the Mountaineers’ head coach, said. ‘This guy just made plays. It started with his redshirt freshman year against Louisville and every time he was the spotlight, center stage, he played the highest he could possibly play. That was pretty special.
‘He brought a lot not to just West Virginia University but to the conference itself. I think the conference will miss him, but life has to go on, and other leaders have to step up and take over.’
After four years of White’s dazzling performances, record-breaking numbers and uncanny ability to produce in the clutch, the Mountaineers and the Big East face the unenviable task of trying to replace him. Jarrett Brown is expected to take over at quarterback for White, but will be hard-pressed to make the Mountaineer faithful forget his nimble predecessor. Within those in the conference, there is varying opinion on who can step up to be the face of the Big East, as White was in his time.
‘Patrick White is the greatest winner in college football,’ Stewart said. ‘I think the guy’s going to be a Super Bowl winner someday at quarterback. It’s been a blessing, it’s been a thrill and it’s been an honor to watch this kid play because he’s been great, but he’s graduated so we gotta go in a different direction now.’
‘Winner’ is the best word to describe White’s years with the Mountaineers. He set 25 Big East, West Virginia and NCAA records in his four years. These include:
( Most rushing yards gained by a quarterback in a career (4,480 yards) ( Most touchdowns responsible for in Big East and WVU (103) ( Most yards in a single game for WVU (424) ( Most yards in a career for Big East and WVU (10,529) ( Best completion percentage at WVU (64.8 percent)
And those are just his individual statistics.
There’s also the 34-8 career record in games he started at West Virginia that included two Big East championships, two BCS bowl victories and a perfect 4-0 record in bowl games with three MVP awards, making him the only quarterback in history to go undefeated in four bowl games.
‘I think Pat White will certainly go down as one of the best, if not the best player in Big East conference history,’ Big East associate commissioner Nick Carparelli, Jr. said. ‘And I think the timing of Pat White’s performances on the football field at a time when the Big East was rebuilding played a major part in our resurgence as one of the big six conferences in the country.’
Beyond all the victories, league coaches often mention how White served as an ambassador for the league both on the field and off it. At Big East media day in July, Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt noted how White helped recruit players for the Big East.
‘I think when we’re all out there talking about our conference and we’re all promoting our conference on a national stand point, I think it was a great situation to have a player nationally like Pat White to use as a reference,’ Wannstedt said.
But those days are over. With White now a Miami Dolphin after being selected with the No. 44 pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, the search for his replacement has begun. At WVU, it leads to Brown, a fifth-year senior who has served as White’s backup for the past three seasons. In his limited time on the field, which included a 17-6 victory over Syracuse last year, Brown has thrown five touchdowns and four interceptions.
To take the immense pressure off Brown’s shoulders during spring practice, Stewart handed Brown a football in front of the entire team and told him it was his team. Stewart said he has told Brown that he should focus on his own abilities and not try to be another White. Brown, though, said he is ready to pick up where White left off.
‘There’s a little pressure, but I can use that pressure, all that energy and go in and watch film, things like that,’ Brown said. ‘The guys around me, they can take all the pressure off me with (tailback) Noel (Devine) in the backfield and my receivers. We’re out there playing for each other and that relieves a lot of pressure off me.’
Though WVU might have someone to replace White in the lineup, filling White’s role in promoting and advancing the conference is not falling upon one player. There seems to be a bevy of opinions about who can step up, though most are non-committal. ‘There are so many good players in the league’ has become a popular refrain.
Syracuse defensive tackle Art Jones thinks he can be that man. South Florida defensive end George Selvie said USF quarterback Matt Grothe, who is just 287 yards away from breaking White’s career record for yards gained in the Big East, can step up. Pittsburgh defensive end Greg Romeus threw out the names of Cincinnati quarterback Tony Pike and Brown as potential replacements.
Yet when it’s all said and done, there might not be anyone who can replace White’s value to the Big East and West Virginia. That’s why Stewart is telling Brown to simply be himself. And if the league finds a replacement, it might be someone the conference or WVU would have never expected.
‘Pat Whites only come around so many times and they’re few and far in between,’ UConn head coach Randy Edsall said. ‘You don’t ever replace a guy like that, and I think when you try and replace a guy like that, that’s when you run into trouble. We lost (running back) Donald Brown, more people have to step up for us.
‘You lose Pat White, more people have to do things, and what I think happens is when you have people like that, sometimes you see other people step up because there’s more of an opportunity for them to do things.’
