Those of you who have been following what we do for a while know that I’m a West Virginia guy. And in order to truly be a West Virginia guy, you’ve got to be a WVU fan. (With the exception of the Marshall fans, which has created a Hatfield-McCoy vibe in the state where the original family feud began.)
As a result, I like to see former Mountaineers do well in the NFL. And plenty of them have.
One player who was expected to make an impact at the next level was Pat White, who as the 44th overall pick matched current WVU athletic director Oliver Luck (father of Andrew Luck) as the highest-drafted quarterback in school history. In the end, the first college quarterback to win four bowl games made it through only one season, which ended rudely with Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor delivering a wicked helmet-to-helmet hit.
Cut by the Dolphins before the 2011 season, White gave professional baseball a try. But he’s now back in football, joining the Virginia Destroyers and being touted as a “major signing.”
“I didn’t know whether or not this would happen,” White said in the release from the UFL. “It’s a blessing and playing [for the Destroyers] is a great opportunity.”
It’s curious that the Destroyers would be giving White that “great opportunity,” given that coach Marty Schottenheimer supposedly isn’t interested in former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor (who likely would have been White’s successor at WVU if Rich Rodriguez hadn’t left for Michigan). Said Schottenheimer earlier this month: “With all due respect, we’ve got a quarterback, and we’re ready to move forward with him.”
They’ve now got another quarterback. We wish White well, and we hope that a guy for whom it always seemed to come easily will find a way to reverse a year of hard times.