MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Pat White’s record-setting career at West Virginia two decades ago came full circle Saturday when the school retired his No. 5 jersey.
A ceremony was held before kickoff of the Mountaineers’ season opener against Coastal Carolina. The crowd was decked out in white T-shirts and jerseys while West Virginia's players donned white road jerseys and pants, the same combination used 18 years after the school honored White in his final home game on a snowy December night.
White went 35-8 as a starter and established himself as one of the nation's top dual-threat quarterbacks. He is the only starting quarterback in NCAA history to win four bowl games, including the Sugar Bowl against Georgia after the 2005 season and the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma after the 2007 season.
“Twenty years later, they’re still talking about what he did and what his teammates did,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez told reporters earlier in the week.
Rodriguez recruited White out of Daphne, Alabama, in 2004. Rodriguez gave him the chance to play quarterback, unlike other schools that wanted him to switch to different positions.
“To this day, he was always about the team first and what do I need to do to have West Virginia have success,” Rodriguez said. “So I’m really proud of him.”
White now is West Virginia’s assistant quarterbacks coach and an assistant to Rodriguez, who returned a year ago for his second coaching stint at his alma mater.
Getting to play at West Virginia “means that I helped show a lot of men from lower Alabama that there’s more out there in this world than just Alabama and Auburn football,” White said.
White is the seventh West Virginia football player whose jersey number has been retired.
He stormed onto the scene seven games into his freshman season, replacing an injured Adam Bednarik at quarterback in the fourth quarter with West Virginia trailing No. 19 Louisville 24-7. White engineered a 46-44 win in triple overtime, and he became the starter after that.
White accomplished the rare feat of topping 6,000 career passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards. He compiled four 200-yard rushing games and averaged 6.5 yards per rush over his career. His 4,480 rushing yards are the third most ever for a Bowl Subdivision quarterback.
White was inducted into West Virginia’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
“For me, personally, it will be excellent for me to see my parents get back to Morgantown and experience Mountaineer Madness again,” White said. “It’s been a while since they’ve been in that stadium.”
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