ShareThisBy CHUCK FINDER
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Day after day. Snap after snap. The starting quarterback barked, and his offensive teammates sprang into action. Monday through Saturday. May through July. Lather, rinse, repeat.
There were summer days spent in the dark, too, watching tape after tape. No West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. No quarterbacks coach Bill Stewart. Nobody else in that room watching films of the upcoming opponents' defenses, watching films of the starting quarterback's play, but him and his pal, tailback Steve Slaton.
All because 2005 was a simplistic storybook year for him: See Pat run. Pat run fast. Run, Pat, run.
All because in 2006 he was intent on proving there was so much more to this West Virginia quarterback that, for starters, folks should call him Patrick.
As in: See Patrick White throw.
"In the offseason, he worked really hard," receiver Brandon Myles said.
"That's all he did," Slaton added. "Seven on seven. Every day. That's all we worked on, just passing."
Indubitably, Rodriguez and Stewart and maybe even Slaton along with the entire Mountaineer state might never turn this fleet-footed quarterback loose to put on an air show _ like Colt Brennan of Hawaii, with his 43 touchdown passes and 38 attempts per game.
No, White is a horse as a runner, which explains why he remains the only quarterback among Division I-A's top rushers at No. 24, a sophomore who averages more yards on the ground per game, 93.0, than such tailbacks as Darius Walker of Notre Dame and Kenny Irons of Auburn. As it is, White has run for more touchdowns this season, 15, than any other major college player except Boise State's Ian Johnson, 21.
Yet he can throw. He can throw accurately.
At least, the statistics bear White out. His 153.20 passing efficiency, if he had only nine more total attempts to qualify for the 15-passes-per-game cutoff, would rank behind only 13 Division I-A starters on that list.
Only 12 have fewer than his five interceptions. Only 12 have higher completion percentages than his 66.7, and some behind him in that category make for an even more impressive list: Ohio State's Troy Smith, Notre Dame's Brady Quinn, Florida's Chris Leak, Southern California's John David Booty, Michigan's Chad Henne and Louisville's Brian Brohm. Of that group, only Smith, Quinn and Brohm have fewer interceptions, with four _ though White threw three of his five Sept. 23 against East Carolina. That means he has but two in his eight other games, in his 102 other attempts.
"He has a cannon," Slaton marveled. "He has a cannon."
It was mostly a matter of placing it into the proper scope, honing the potent left arm that caused the Angels three years ago to make him a fourth-round baseball draftee, meshing it with his Mountaineers receivers and offense. His summer-long indoctrination apparently has come to fruition. When the eighth-ranked Mountaineers (8-1, 3-1) travel to Pitt (6-4, 2-3) Thursday night, the Panthers' Tyler Palko _ with his 173.8 passing efficiency ranking him No. 2, his 68.5 completion percentage ranking him No. 7 _ won't be the only left-hander passing fancily on Heinz Field.
Road shows don't bother White. The game before last, he completed 13 of 20 for a career-high 222 yards at Louisville. The one before that, White completed 9 of 14 for 156 yards at Connecticut. At 11.1 yards per attempt, those outings rate better than even the Division I-A leader, Hawaii's Brennan, who averages 9.88.
And everybody can talk about the 567 yards and 11 touchdowns he has conjured on the ground the past four games, but his arm has been better over that span: 575 yards passing.
"I basically wanted to improve my skills as far as me connecting with the receivers, knowing each other, our relationship," White said of his summer-long toil.
In film study, he ascertained formations, coverages, other such defensive details. He also watched himself, his passes of 2005, when he completed 65 of 114 attempts for 828 yards, eight touchdowns, five interceptions. White added, "What did I learn about myself? My drop(back) was slow last year, I had to quicken it up. My throw, I shortened it up a little bit."
Still and all, the Mountaineers do run, run. They rank second in NCAA rushing at 318 yards per game. Nevertheless, when White and West Virginia throw, they throw accurately now. No wonder the Mountaineers as a team rank No. 16 nationally in passing efficiency, ahead of such aerial circuses as Florida, California, Texas Tech, Michigan and USC.
"It's funny. Five or six years ago, whenever we started, this offense was probably 60 percent or at least 55 percent pass," Rodriguez said.
It's geared more toward the feet of Slaton and White these days. But, if the time comes, the Mountaineers and White seem prepared for an arms race, as well.
