New West Virginia coach Bill Stewart has a simple, to the point way of describing his star quarterback, Pat White.
"He is the greatest winner in college football today,"
Stewart said.
While arguments surely could be made for other players as well, White's case speaks for itself. During his career, the senior from Daphne has led the Mountaineers to a pair of Big East conference titles, three straight 11-win seasons, three straight bowl wins and three straight top-10 finishes.
Last year, White passed for 1,724 yards, ran for 1,335 and accounted for 28 touchdowns as West Virginia went 11-2 and blew out Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. He was named Big East offensive player of the year for the second straight season and finished sixth in Heisman Trophy voting.
"It's like Coach (Don) Nehlen says, Whatever it is, Patrick White's got it. And whatever it is, Patrick has plenty of it,"
Stewart said.
White now has another award for his trophy room.
He's been named the state's amateur athlete of the year by the Alabama Sports Writers Association and will be honored at the group's annual convention Sunday night at the Birmingham Sheraton.
"It means a great deal to me to know that, even though I've been gone from Daphne four years, I still have the support of the state of Alabama and people are still following me down there,"
White said. "It's really special considering I'm at West Virginia, and they have such a great tradition of football right there in Alabama."
Ironically, White is the second straight player to take home the honor after leaving the state to play college football. Former LSU star and Mobile native JaMarcus Russell was honored last summer. Four of the last five ASWA amateur winners have been quarterbacks.
"It's an honor for Pat that his home state has recognized him as the state amateur player of the year," Stewart said. "He is a great young man with outstanding character and leadership ability. He deserves any accolade he receives because he works hard and wants to continually improve himself."
White averaged 253 yards of total offense a game a year ago, ran for 100 yards or more in four straight games and six overall and completed at least 60 percent of his passes in all but one game. He scored the winning touchdown against Louisville on a 50-yard run in the final minute and scored at least one rushing touchdown in all but two games.
He is the career leader in rushing yards by a quarterback in the Big East with 3,356 yards and needs 934 yards to pass Missouri's Brad Smith and become the NCAA's all-time leader.
"I've been fortunate to be put in a good position with good players around me,"
White said. "I was given a great opportunity here at West Virginia. No doubt."
White's junior year wasnt completely fulfilling, however.
Standing at 10-1, the Mountaineers had a shot to get into the BCS title game with a win over underdog Pittsburgh at home in the regular-season finale but instead lost 13-9.
In the weeks following that game, head coach Rich Rodriguez bolted WVU to become head coach at Michigan.
"Any strong family of any sort moves on from a devastating situation,"
White said. "I think we had a devastating situation last year, losing that game and Coach Rod leaving. But we really tried to pull together and become stronger."
"I personally just tried to make sure everyone had a smile on their face and still enjoyed playing the game of football because, in the end, that's what it's all about. You have to enjoy doing whatever you are doing."
Mission accomplished. West Virginia got off the deck and whipped the Oklahoma 48-28 in the Fiesta Bowl, basically guaranteeing then-interim coach Stewart the permanent job as head coach.
White said he doesn't expect the Mountaineers' offense to change much under the new coach. He says the team still will be exciting and more players likely will become threats under Stewart. He's also already pointing to one specific game.
West Virginia hosts Auburn Oct. 23.
"It's definitely gonna be special playing one of the big teams from my home state in my last year,"
he said. "It's where I grew up, it's what I grew up hearing. I just wish we could play in Auburn so more of my family might be able to come up and see the game."
White said his main goals for 2008 are to win "quite often"
and make the most of his final year in college. Barring injury, more awards surely will follow. But what has meant the most to White in his college career so far? The wins? The awards? The rushing records? Hardly.
"The fact that my parents can walk around from Daphne, Ala., with their heads held high and say proudly that I'm their son,"
he said. "That means everything to me."
