Pitt Redshirt Diaries : Patrick White

Louisville slugfest

Chuck Finder — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:25:00 GMT

An updated version of the artistry previously known as: Two teams that really don't like each other

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- As part of the friendly rivals' fire that resurfaced in pregame warmups and lasted into the aftermath of this 35-21 West Virginia victory Saturday, Mountaineers quarterback Patrick White -- who jawed at, looked back at and taunted (while running down the sidelines for touchdowns) and pancake-blocked most any Cardinals in his proximity -- had some not-so-nice words about one Louisville player in particular.

On a Noel Devine cutback run, White took a moment from his NCAA record-setting rushing day to block 6-foot-3, 285-pound Cardinals defensive tackle Earl Heyman and topple him to the stadium turf. Heyman took umbrage, grabbing White and rolling him over in what became a two-man somersault. They arose to jaw and posture at one another.

Said White afterward: "He tried to break my neck. No need for ignorant, dirty play."

Then White, still miffed that linebacker Preston Smith denied this incident happened in the teams' meeting last November, added this little nugget: "At least I didn't get spit on."

White admitted that after the last of his three touchdown jaunts he began snapping his fingers in the end zone, showing everyone that his 200-yard day was a "walk in the park." As for establishing the new NCAA Division I-A standard for rushing yards in a quarterback career, the senior shrugged and added that the record will mean something to him "maybe one day when I'm old and in my rocking chair with my grandkids." One last White tidbit: He finished with 1,115 career yards rushing/passing plus a 3-1 record vs. Louisville.

More post-game doodads: Coach Bill Stewart: "I was so frustrated at half. Had 215 yards rushing, two blown opportunities [inside the Louisville 11-yard line]. I wanted to cry, I really did. But I can’t do that." . . . Offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen joked of White’s record-breaking, 4-yard run, which was two yards shy of a first down: "That’s the only time he slid all year, the knucklehead." . . . Mullen on West Virginia rushing for a season-high 376 yards against major-college football's heretofore eighth-stingiest rushing defense, all behind an offensive line with Seneca Valley's Don Barclay, in his first start, subbing for Greg Isdaner (head, though he played one series) and Eric Jobe, in his second start, subbing for Mike Dent (neck): "You kidding me? And you replace two all-Big East, All-American candidate guys. We didn't replace a couple of stiffs. That's crazy talk." . . . West Virginia allowed a third-quarter touchdown for only the second time all fall, ending a string of four consecutive games and six of seven without a third- or fourth-quarter score. . . Stewart pooh-poohed the pregame-warmup fracas between the teams, saying his Mountaineers didn't breach protocol by standing on Louisville's midfield Cardinal logo. A few wild punches were thrown, but coaches and game officials separated the two sides.

'Thoughts from a fat white guy'

Chuck Finder — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:55:00 GMT

No, not this fat white guy, but this one:

Fellow blogger and starting Connecticut defensive tackle Rob Lunn, whose injured shoulder apparently hampers neither his typing nor his wit, posted about West Virginia tonight just a few hours before aligning against them Saturday in a game that will help to shape the Big East title race.

In the above referenced blog, Lunn raved about Mountaineers quarterback Patrick White and tailback Noel Devine. But he instantly will earn the affection of many Mountaineers followers with this reference: "Don't expect WVU dominance in the Big East to stop any time soon (take that". . . um, insert vulgar variation of ex-West Virginia coach's name here. Check out his earlier posts about WVU, including one where he labels fans "Slack-Jawed Yokells(sic)."

We'll see how well Lunn plays Saturday, but, man, ya gotta like his sarcastic writing style, if not his spelling and sweeping generalizations.

Healthy for Thursday: Liebig, White and. . . Auburn's coach?

Chuck Finder — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:01:00 GMT

The injury update for West Virginia-Auburn at Mountaineer Field Thursday:

* Defensive lineman Pat Liebig is expected to return to play as a backup after missing the past three Mountaineers (4-2) games due to a lingering concussion.

* Mountaineers quarterback Patrick White is ready and "raring to go" against the Tigers (4-3), Coach Bill Stewart said today, after missing one game and one quarter, also because of a concussion.

* And Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, despite rumors and internet reports, didn't have a stroke.

He said it, not me. (And you thought Stewart and West Virginia were catching flak. . . .)

“Over the last week or so, there obviously have been a lot of things said,” Tuberville began at a news conference this afternoon in Auburn, Ala. “I just want everybody to know things are going good. I did not have a stroke. I’m not tired of coaching. I’m as fired up as ever. I feel as good as I ever have about coaching. I still have that drive; I read that my drive was gone[, too.] No, we did not negotiate a contract last week. That’s a new one that came out. . . . I’ve been here 10 years. I plan on being here 10 more years.

“It’s just amazing the rumors going around when things aren’t going as good as you hope. No matter what happens, you’re going to have years where it doesn’t work out. I’m looking forward to the next five weeks and seeing how we can do. All the detractors from outside that keep throwing stones at us, that’s fine. I appreciate the sympathy cards for all my illnesses and all that. I go to church, and people ask me if I'm all right. I knew right then this thing was getting out of hand. That's why I wanted to make a short statement that I'm going to make it through the week.

"That's a paid policital announcement from Tommy Tuberville."

P. White out vs. Syracuse

Chuck Finder — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:15:00 GMT

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- With an injury that the Mountaineers have yet to publicly label a concussion, quarterback Patrick White is dressed in sweats today and skipped West Virginia's homecoming date against Syracuse because of week-long lingering problems.

The two-time Heisman Trophy candidate and Big East offensive player of the year exited their Rutgers victory late in the third quarter last Saturday after a helmet-to-helmet tackle that left him "dinged," which was as far as Coach Bill Stewart would go with a medical diagnosis for public consumption. However, White -- who also left the previous game early, against Marshall, with a bruised thumb -- exhibited memory loss through midweek, when he missed practice and asked media not to question him about a Rutgers game he couldn't recall. Syracuse constituted his first missed start after 19 consecutive and 35 of 36. And White surely liked playing Syracuse: He riddled the Orange for 356 yards rushing and five touchdowns plus 310 yards passing plus with another touchdown in three career touchdowns.

Same as the Dec. 1, 2006 home date with Rutgers, which White missed due to a high ankle sprain, Jarrett Brown got the start today. In fact, White's absence left only four quarterbacks dressed at Mountaineer Field today: Brown, part-time receiver Bradley Starks, red-shirting freshman Coley White and Chartiers-Houston's Josh DiPasquale, who was listed as a linebacker a few weeks ago.

UPDATE 9:40 p.m.: Stewart apologized after the game for not commiting full disclosure previously about White's injury, which he admitted for the first time was indeed a concussion. The coach said White had headaches through the middle of the week and was off "equilibrium," so they sent him for tests Friday -- a CAT scan and a concussion IMPACT study at Stewart's request -- which found the quarterback was off his normal neuropsychological funtion. "He's just not at his baseline," Stewart said. "He's so much better today. He'll be ready to play" -- the coach then knocked his wooden lectern twice -- "Cub and Scout's honor. . . next time we get ready to play," Oct. 23 against Auburn. Stewart added that defensive lineman Pat Liebig, who today missed his third consecutive game with what the coach also revealed to be a concussion, still suffers from after-effects where crowd noise causes a headache. From this experience with White, Stewart said the coaching and medical staff has decided to re-evaluate such potential injuries not the day of or day after a game, but later: "We now know a concussion is best graded a few days after the incident."

Oh(ffense), what a difference a WVU year makes

Chuck Finder — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:48:00 GMT

This is a subject to be tackled in next week's print editions, after the vaunted -- or is it vaulted? -- West Virginia offense gets its chance at Syracuse's sixth-to-last-ranked defense Saturday at Mountaineer Field. But quarterback Patrick White tonight offered a piece of insight that requires prompt sharing.

"We have to understand every time we touch the ball, it's not going to be a big play or touchdown," White said on the subject of the unit that Coach Bill Stewart has started calling a "ball-control" offense. "Coach [Jeff] Mullen's philosphy is, every down is third-and-four."

Let's pause to allow for proper digestion: They're always shooting for four yards, minimum. Maybe that explains some of the short-yardage sweeps, huh?

Some numbers with which to wash that down: Through five games last season -- with Steve Slaton, Owen Schmitt and Darius Reynaud on hand, of course, but also with White and Noel Devine and the same offensive line as well -- the Mountaineers averaged 40.4 points and 507 yards offensively. Through five games this season, they averaged 23.2 points (nearly half as many) and 357 yards (two-thirds as many). At this point last year, they had 41 offensive plays and 10 touchdowns of 20-plus yards; this fall, they have 14 (one-third as many) and five (half). More astonishingly, at this point last year, they had 20 running plays and seven touchdowns of 20-plus yards; this fall, they have nine (less than half) and one (a margin so wide it blew out my abacus). There were, by this juncture a year ago, a half-dozen plays from scrimmage and three touchdowns longer than any single play these current Mountaineers have produced yet, and their top three are all quarterback rushes.

While receiver Tito Gonzales maintains that Mullen the offensive coordinator is locking away the offense for full unveiling later in the season, it may well set off alarms if the Mountaineers this Saturday cannot shred Syracuse, which ranks 114th (of 119 major-college teams) in yards permitted per game, at 462, and 111th in points permitted per game, at 36.

One final note: White, withheld from contact in practice tonight and perhaps most of the week, didn't look so good to me, though I'm neither a trained medical professional nor someone who slept the night before in a chain hotel. Said he of the lingering "dinging," in Stewart's words, from Rutgers last Saturday: "I’ve never had my bell rung like that, but, playing football, you are going to get hit. I got hit. I feel pretty much normal."

Pretty much.

Rutgers update: Williams out for season, White hurt

Chuck Finder — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:07:00 GMT

McKeesport's Anthony Leonard found himself in a new and different place this afternoon: starting in place of Reed Williams at middle linebacker for a West Virginia needing a strong man in the middle, both against Rutgers today and potentially the rest of the season.

Leonard, a redshirt sophomore, became him the fourth different player to start at middle linebacker in five Mountaineers games to date -- Pat Lazear, Gateway's Mortty Ivy (back at strongside linebacker) and Williams were the others.

Williams, the pumping heart of the Mountaineers' defense that has limited opponents to just two touchdowns and two more field goals in his pair of starts, has been scratched from West Virginia’s lineup for Rutgers today because of troubling pain from his offseason surgery to repair labrums in both shoulders. What this means for the remainder of the season is up in the air: He can play one more game this season and still be eligible to receive a medical redshirt and extra year of eligibility, under NCAA rules.

Williams' impact on the Mountaineers' defense in his two-game return? After yielding touchdowns on Colorado's first two drives in his first start since Williams won Fiesta Bowl defensive MVP, the defense clamped down and allowed just two field goals in the ensuing 21 series and 115-plus minutes of gametime. Williams amassed 17 tackles, two tackles for losses, one interception and one pass breakup in less than seven quarters of action since.

4:32 p.m.: Williams has decided to sit out the rest of the season with pain that left him "absolutely miserable," according to roommate Pat McAfee, the kicker form Plum. This middle linebacker from Moorefield, W.Va. -- the Mountaineers only remaining starter from in-state -- will be a fifth-year senior for 2009. Leonard, his replacement for the time being, finished this 24-17 victory with a team-high nine tackles.

Also, quarterback Patrick White left the game with about five minutes remaining in the third quarter with an apparent concussion -- the extent of which Coach Bill Stewart didn't fully reveal afterward. "He's fine," Stewart said, his voice barely above a whisper. White exited the field and headed to the locker room with team medical personnel escorting him, but returned almost five minutes later without his helmet. He exhorted teammates and talked with them from the sidelines, but he didn't address media afterward and teammates declined to discuss the two-time Big East offensive player of the year's ailment.

RU ready for some football?

Chuck Finder — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:00:00 GMT

And other Friday football questions involving this Rutgers-West Virginia fray in a curiouser and curiouser Big East:

1. Coach Bill Stewart maintains that he refuses to throw his players under the bus, but would you consider this tossing tailback Noel Devine into the Bonzai Pipeline? "Stay in the wave," he said he counseled Devine, after No. 7 gathered 88 of his game-high 125 yards rushing against Marshall on whoa-Neillie, reverse-field runs. "Ride the wave. [Exhibiting patience is] the biggest thing Steve [Slaton] did here, Quincy [Wilson] did here and Avon [Cobourne] did here, everyone we've had. Patiencew to the hole, speed through the hole. Patience to the hole, speed through the hole. He's given up on the wave. I want to see the wave crest. What do you tell a guy who does one of those Nintendo runs? "OK, good job. But you better watch, you need to ride the crest. . . . We're not riding that crest. We're dnot doing everything we need to be doing right now. We're getting better. We're getting closer. And we're gaining on it. What I'm still trying to tell the coaches, we're going to come to a game [where Nos.] 5 and 7 need help. We've got to be able to become more than one-dimensional -- that's No. 7 -- or more than two-dimensional -- that's No. 7 and No. 5 -- football team."

If nothing else, credit the old-school Stewart for invoking Nintendo instead of, I dunno, Atari.To help out, we've invited Coach Laird Hamilton to provide Devine intervention (see bottom).

2. Could senior stalwart middle linebacker Reed Williams truly consider a red-shirt? He has, under NCAA rules, two more games to play before deciding whether to punt the rest of this season and petition to return for one more because of his aching shoulders from offseason labrum surgery. It was instructive that Tuesday, when reporters asked the normally voluble Williams to stop for player-interview questioning, he rushed off saying he had a class project. Stewart said earlier that Tuesday, in advance of the Rutgers game Saturday at Mountaineer Field: "We're going to watch him and see how he does. Last Saturday he was good, but the guy's hurting. He's his own best doctor. You can take MRIs, you can take X-rays, you can see doctors. But you're your own best doctor. Every guy that's sick [or hurt] here, I tell them, 'I want you to be honest with me, becuse you're the expect on your body.' Then we make a calculated decision"

3. Could Rutgers tailback Kordell Young, earlier this week left for season-ending injured, make a return Saturday at Mountaineer Field? Tom Luicci of The Newark Star-Ledger has the details.

4. Do you see progress in these Mountaineers? Stewart does, though he seems to be admitting they were overrated at No. 8 and unready for what awaited them at the starting gate: "I saw it in Boulder. I knew in Boulder we had a chance to be a good football team. Great football team? No. Eighth in the country? No, never. Not yet. Not yet. . . . Are we back? No. Are we on the way back? Yeah. I don't think we ever lost it, we just weren't real good early. We went to East Carolina and got whacked, got tagged. I think that's all been rectified. Will we get beat again? Could. Hope not. Those two games, at East Carolina and at Boulder. . . , I think made our football team grow. I really do, I believe it. Now did it grow for the better? We'll see. We'll see."

Stew asks so many questions, he oughtta be a reporter.

5. DId you see where one of Mountaineers' fans least favorite sports writers (present company excluded) opined, with a colleague, that West Virginia and Rutgers were among college football's biggest disappointments thus far?

Finally, a Big East thought: Pitt's rousing upset over No. 10 South Florida could, in the short-term, further present a deletirous affect for the conference in the polls and perhaps even early BCS rankings. Without one dominant team, or a couple of sturdy ones, the conference appears to finally become the prophecy of skeptics years ago after the departure of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College: a mediocre football conglomeration of basketball schools. Watch the polls Sunday afternoon. If undefeated Connecticut falls at North Carolina on Saturday and tumbles from the rankings along with USF, it's quite possible that no Big East school will appear in the Top 15, Top 20. . . perhaps even the entire Top 25, though that's doubtful. See, with Louisville on the borderline and UConn still not considered among the big boys, the league needed either West Virginia or Rutgers, or both, to remain strong alongside either USF or Pitt, or both.

WVU-Villanova live

Chuck Finder — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 17:41:00 GMT

Chuck Finder | Gameday

8:53 p.m.: In the end, Patrick White tossed a Mountaineer Field-record and lifetime-best five touchdowns, and eighth-ranked West Virginia tried to show East Carolina and the rest of college football that you can't always crowd the line of scrimmage to dare this team to throw. Sure, only Marc Bulger in 1998 with a half-dozen against Pitt has thrown for more scores in West Virginia history. But the subtext to this 48-21 triumph tonight over The Villanova That Doesn't Shoot 3-Pointers seems to be: That remodeled defense didn't exactly stymie a Division I-AA offense. Seven of the Wildcats' first 11 possessions carried into West Virginia territory. The Wildcats possessed the football an entire quarter longer than West Virginia, which in theory represents a practical way to keep that vaunted offense off the field. The Wildcats even outgained the Mountaineers by half a football field. "We missed some open-field tackles," new coach Bill Stewart said. "We just can't do that." By the way, in a precautionary move by Stewart and the medical staff, Reed Williams didn't dress (no wonder this correspondent couldn't find him), but he and his surgically repaired shoulders should be ready to play, if not start, next Saturday at East Carolina. And, after the soon-to-be-ranked Pirates' 27-22 upset of No. 17 Virginia Tech today, this West Virginia-East Carolina fray looks a whole lot more sizeable, doesn't it? "From what I heard today, we're going into a hornet's next, we're going into a Pirates den," Stewart said. "We have to improve a whole lot."

5:26 p.m. (our apologies. . . wireless problems here): Pat Lazear indeed started at middle linebacker and lasted barely a handful of plays. Anthony Leonard replaced him -- no sign of Williams, so it's doubtful he'll play -- but the Villanova offense still moved with relative ease throughout the first half. Four of its first six possessions reached into West VIrginia territory. It dominated the first half time of possession, 20 minutes, 32 seconds to West VIrginia's 9:28. It even outgained the vaunted West Virginia offense. Yet a red-zone fumble by Villanova quarterback Antwon Young was returned halfway across the field, mostly by Gateway's Mortty Ivy, to set up the first of three. . . wait for it. . . passing touchdowns to give the Mountaineers a 24-7 lead at intermission. Records that fell in the half: White has his inaugural three-touchdown-passing performance (with a half yet to play) and West Virginia's first since Brashear's Rasheed Marshall four years ago against Temple (which one press-box wag called another Division I-AA team from Philadelphia); White surpassed Bulger's career mark for total offense with almost 8,000 yards; and Plum's Pat McAfee at half's close kicked a career-long, 52-yard field goal, beating by one yard his previous best against Pitt at Heinz Field two years ago.

1:52 p.m (more than 90 minutes to kickoff).: A roster update: If sophomore Lazear doesn't start ahead of senior star Williams at middle linebacker today, he at minimum is expected to play the majority of the defensive snaps so Williams can test and then rest his surgically repaired shoulders.

A scoreboard update: The three-times-larger Panasonic big board is up and running, showing the Virginia Tech-East Carolina broadcast at this moment, and it's a dandy home-theater system. And workers did find the KA missing from the Tuesday night truck carrying the scrambled letters now spelling out "MILAN PUSKAR STADIUM" above the new scoreboard (see Aug. 26 blog entry, below). LED boards running roughly between the 10-yard lines adorn the bottom of the upper decks at Mountaineer Field now, too, much like ones found at Heinz Field or any other major stadium.

Finally, a weather update: The hazy, gray skies that appeared to threaten with rain have just given way to beams of sunshine. Radar looks clear, though. Not that it should matter much today, but the Mountaineers would prefer a dry, fast track on their ersatz grass.

Snippets from the White album

Chuck Finder — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:05:00 GMT

Chuck Finder | 10:18 a.m. Aug. 28

In addition to today's ruminations on the young man who is inarguably the most decorated quarterback in Mountaineers history, here are three extra, intriguing sound bytes.

Guard Greg Isdaner: "Best quarterback in the country, write it down. [Last year's Heisman Trophy winner from Florida] Tim Tebow's a good player and all, but. . . . [White] knows he's the best now. Some people let it go to their head, but he's using it to distance himself from the others."

Offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen: "He's already in meetings bringing up ideas and thoughts and tweaks and second-level adjustments that make me stop and go, [pretending to stare at the board] 'That's a good idea, Patrick. We're not going to do that yet.' " Hmm, makes it sound as if the White ideas will come into play later in the season, huh?. . . .

Finally, little brother Coley White: "He's more mature. He does better around the house, cleans up more - I think he got that from our brother, Bo [coaching at Bluffton University in Ohio], he's a neat freak. And [Patrick's] even letting me use his car around campus. I was surprised about that."

Camp Stew officially closes

Chuck Finder — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:35:00 GMT

New coach Bill Stewart today closed the two-week proceedings with a 54-play scrimmage that yielded nary a touchdown by the eighth-ranked Mountaineers.

What, the self-described Mr. Rogers worry?

For one thing, he sat out offensive dynamos Noel Devine and Jock Sanders. For another, receiver Dorrell Jalloh was absent due to an infected foot and tight end/fullback/H-back Will Johnson due to a foot sprain, while receiver-quarterback Bradley Starks and backup quarterback Jarrett Brown likewise weren’t allowed to participate because of sore hamstrings. Finally, the offense worked on the passing game more than what Stewart calls its “bread and butter.”

“If we put 5 [Patrick White] and 7 [Devine] in there and just run the belly option all day, we’ll score more than one touchdown” total in two scrimmages, said Stewart, who earlier in the week invoked Fred Rogers’ name in a soliloquy about how he can be a stern coach as well. “We’ve scored a bunch all fall. Don’t worry. We’re going to dance with the girl what brung me.”

* Of Mark Rodgers’ 39 yards on four carries in the battle for backup tailback, Stewart said, “Nice to see a couple of big runs he made. We’ve got to see that. ’Cause I know what 5 can do, what 7 can do, what 9 [Sanders] can do. That’s why we threw the ball so much. I want to see what [the other guys] can do.”

* Of the 5-foot-8 Devine and Sanders missing the scrimmage, Stewart said, “Both can play. Both are good. Both are frustrated at me [for sitting them]. That’s OK. I can take those two little munchkins. Tag-team, they could take on this old boy. They’re like two midget wrestlers, anyway -- I’d knock those guys out.” Mr. Rogers was never this feisty at 56, was he? No, neighbor, he was only kidding.

* Stewart also talked about installing a new kick-return system that is the same one he used earlier this century, when the Mountaineers topped the Big East in that category. Devine and Sanders worked on kickoffs before the scrimmage, each breaking off returns that reached kicker Pat McAfee one-on-one on the far side of the 50.

* Absent Brown and Starks, the two quarterbacks remaining yesterday were the Brothers White. With Patrick and freshman Coley leading the offense, you could’ve labeled this a White-Blue scrimmage. The younger brother shows nimble feet, but the speed of the college game continues to elude him, as Stewart noted: “It’s a little fast for Coley right now.”

* A star of the scrimmage, if you cared to name one, would’ve been backup defensive end Larry Ford, a junior-college transfer who arrived last winter and worked in spring drills. Big East officials blew their whistles as soon as a defender laid a finger on Patrick White, and in that environment Ford registered a couple of sacks Stewart said, “He’s bringing some things to us. I tell you, nobody could block him today. That cat was smoking. That cat was rolling. With Scooter [Berry], Chris Neild, Zac Cooper and Pat Liebig, Larry Ford is huge for us.” Berry worked some at nose tackle in the scrimmage, and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich expects to experiment next week in practice with a hefty front, in Berry and Neild and Liebig, along with a speed unit, with Cooper and Ford at bookends.

* Seneca Valley’s Don Barclay looks like he'll receive a large chunk of playing time, if not start, this season thanks to new offensive line coach Dave Johnson of Penn Hills and WVU. Barclay today played a series at first-team right tackle, the position previously held by Selvish Capers, whom Barclay is pushing. Barclay, who can play both tackles and some guard, seems destined for the top reserve at minimum. And Johnson wants to play younger linemen for when seniors Ryan Stanchek and Mike Dent depart after this season, meaning Seton-LaSalle’s Gino Gradkowski could see backup guard time as well.

* Classes commence Monday, so that means the end of Camp Stew-a-days and a return to the in-season regiment of a single, late-afternoon/night practice daily. This camp-ending date one year ago brought the night that cornerback Ellis Lankster and linebacker J.T. Thomas ran into legal difficulty and got suspended two games. "Stay out of the news," Stewart said he told the players, though, if memory serves, You Know Who warned the Mountaineers the same thing last August. "We've talked to them about being mature adults, not being a weak link. They're still under curfew. They'll be under curfew until I tell them they're not under curfew, which will be sometime in January."

-- Chuck Finder