Position: Quarterback

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 192 LBs

Excellence shined in a come from behind win that included 26 of 32 passing for 332 yards and 3 touchdowns from Senior West Virginia quarterback Pat White in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

White continued to show, as he has all season and throughout his career that he could be a professional quarterback. White, who many compare to Mike Vick (only on the field), is arguably the best rushing quarterback in college football history. His rushing ability, which includes 974 yards on the ground in 2008, is not what is in question. It’s his height and throwing ability.

Scouting

At 6’1” White goes into the combine a little smaller than the average quarterback prospect. With the lack of size, comes doubt and many NFL scouts believe that Pat White would be a better running back or wide receiver. Either way, there is not a doubt that White is an NFL athlete, it just comes down to whether he can make adjustments or not. I honestly think he would have the most value as at the quarterback position. There are plenty of good quarterbacks that are undersized (see Drew Brees) that can have success. What matters is that he is a playmaker. Twice in his four colligate seasons has his QB rating been over 150. In his four years, he has accumulated 56 passing touchdowns compared to 23 interceptions. Throughout his career he has thrown for 6000 plus yards. Not bad for a running quarterback.

Granted, he only went over 200 yards passing three times this year, it is still worth a team to take a look at Pat White late in the draft, in hopes of developing a starter for the future. In a deep quarterback class (Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Matt Stafford), White could be the diamond in the rough, or he could be the best of the busts (Vince Young, Eric Couch, Akali Smith). Any way it ends up, He is worth a mid-round draft pick talent wise.

Personality

According to West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart, White is, “the greatest winner of college football today.” Stewart also went on to say that White is “the greatest to ever wear the old gold and blue.” Beyond on the field, Pat White has also drawn great raves from his head coach. Bill Stewart continued the praise of White after the Meineke Car Care Bowl, saying that He hopes his son turns out to be the type of man that White is. It is that type of attitude that teams these days have to be looking for, considering many athletes shoot themselves in the leg in off the field situations (pun fully intended).

On the field, there has never been a question about his desire to win. White has started four bowl games and bought home three consecutive bowl game MVPs to end his college career. With that being said, it seems that White would do whatever it takes to get on the football field. Those are the guys that you want playing for you on Sundays.

Comparisons

Pat White often reminds me of Mike Vick, simply because of the way both took over ballgames at the college level. Size wise, they match up pretty well, and I believe that White can produce that well in time.

Combining his attitude, smarts and play on the field, I do see flashes of Randall Cunningham. Is that to say that White is really that talented? No. But he could be that type of game changer on the field.

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#	+/-		Team	Comment
1	–		Georgia Bulldogs	I have to rank Georgia as #1, only because they beat Florida last year when Tim Tebow had a bummed shoulder. The battle in Jacksonville between the two SEC East rivals will be great theater.
2	–		Florida Gators	Tim Tebow did everything last season but he won’t have to this year. Chris Rainey is probably going to emerge as a star beside Cornelius Igram and Percy Harvin in the nation’s most potent offense.
3	–		USC Trojans	USC is the program every athletic director in the country wished they had. With Mark Sanchez under center the Trojans are once again loaded with talent and should run through the Pac 10 with ease.
4	–		Ohio State Buckeyes	Back to back national championship games and back to back embarrasing losses to SEC teams once they get there. Don’t even begin to ask me why two SEC teams are ahead of the Buckeyes.
5	–		Oklahoma Sooners	What Sam Bradford did last season was amazing, but he was overshadowed by Tebow’s record breaking year and the fact that OU has struggled in recent BCS games. Expect them to bounce back in a big way this year.
6	–		West Virginia Mountainners	You are reading it here first (gulp)….Noel Devine will be better than Steve Slaton was during his career if he can stay out of trouble in Morgantown. He has all the talent in the world.
7	–		Clemson Tigers	Here’s the team I think could surprise a lot of people this year. They’ve probably got the most talented backfield in all of college football; Cullen Harper, James Davis, and C. J. Spiller.
8	–		Missouri Tigers	Chase Daniel led Missouri to a #1 ranking going into the Big 12 Title game last year. This year their goal is to prove that last season was no fluke. They have the talent to do that very thing.
9	–		Wisconsin Badgers	Is Wisconsin really the nation’s 9th best team? I feel as if there is a small bit of separation between the top eight and the next tier of teams. The Badgers have P. J. Hill and Travis Beckum and they seem like a good place to start.
10	–		Texas Longhorns	I actually like Colt McCoy, although it seems no one outside of Texas does. The big question for the Longhorns is at running back after losing Jamaal Charles to the NFL Draft.
11	–		Auburn Tigers	Kodi Burns will be the starting QB for Auburn, and the Tigers should be very good. The SEC West race appears wide open and should be Auburn’s for the taking.
12	–		LSU Tigers	The first problem in Baton Rouge is trying to find a replacement to Ryan Perrilloux. It appears Harvard transfer Andrew Hatch will fill that spot. With that talented defense it may not matter who starts at QB for the defending national champions.
13	–		Kansas Jayhawks	Were the Jayhawks a fluke last season? I sure hope not. Quarterback Todd Reesing is the real deal when it comes to running the spread offense.
14	–		Texas Tech Red Raiders	I keep talking about how WR Michael Crabtree is a can’t miss prospect. At least I’m not the only one who thinks that way, I actually heard ESPN college football analyst Joe Schad say that Crabtree could catch 30 TD passes this year.
15	–		South Florida Bulls	I am a Matt Grothe fan. The kid has a great arm and understands the game of football. Plus somebody has to challenge West Virginia in the Big East right? Why not the team that actually beat the Mountaineers last season?
16	–		Virginia Tech Hokies	The ACC looks like it is headed for another very down season. Despite losing Brandon Ore by dismissal the Hokies should still be one of the favorites to win the conference.
17	–		BYU Cougars	The next tier of the top 25 seems to be here. BYU has the nation’s longest winning streak and is led by quarterback Max Hall. Their battle against Utah to end their regular season November 22nd could be for a BCS bowl.
18	–		Tennessee Volunteers	The Volunteers are the 5th SEC team already listed here, and yet people ask who the strongest conference is. Last year they made the SEC Championship game after blowout losses to Florida & Alabama, so there’s no telling what to expect.
19	–		Utah Utes	I really think that either BYU or Utah will be playing in a BCS Bowl game at the end of the season. The Utes get both TCU and BYU at home, so they should be favored in both of their tough games.
20	–		Arizona State Sun Devils	Rudy Carpenter and the Sun Devils are out to prove that their amazing turnaround in 2007 was a fluke ( a word I’ve used a lot in this article). They play both USC and Georgia, which means they will be a team to watch.
21	–		Penn State Nittany Lions	I’ve seen Penn State ranked as high as the top ten by some experts’ rankings and as low as completely outside the top 25 in others. I think Maurice Evans will be great, but can they find a succesfful quarterback?
22	–		Michigan State Spartans	Even losing Devin Thomas I think the Spartans can be very good in 2008. If they can win their opener at California and survive games against teams they should beat (ND & IND) then they could get Ohio State at home at 7-0. Think of that OSU fans.
23	–		Fresno State Bulldogs	The last two seasons WAC teams have made BCS Bowl games. This year Pat Hill’s bunch has a tough schedule; Rutgers, UCLA, Wisconsin, & Boise State but if they can somehow manage to escape those four with one loss then they should be in the top 15 when the final polls are released in January.
24	–		Illinois Fighting Illini	Quarterback Juice Williams is very inconsistent but if he can play well all season (which I know he is capable of) then Illinois has a chance to play in the Rose Bowl again.
25	–		Pittsburgh Panthers	LeSean McCoy is one of the nation’s best running backs, but he will have to carry this Panthers offense. Last year he ran for 1,328 yards and 14 TDs.