Subtle Jab Or Outright Elbow?
Can Pat throw? We will soon find out! I am sure this is on the bulletin board of everyone recruiting against Rich for QB's. There are some quotes in here that are loud in my opinion.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview08/columns/story?columnist=schlaba…
"Pat White's our franchise," Stewart said. "He's the greatest winner in college football today. I really believe that. But he cannot carry the ball every play. I want to run the ball and do what we've done. But we've got to take the ball out of Pat White's hands just a little bit. He can't do it every time. We've got to develop some other players, whether it's a wide receiver or a tailback. He can't win every game. We've got to give him some help."
White was hurt twice last season, and the Mountaineers lost both games -- 21-13 at South Florida and the deflating loss to Pittsburgh at home. Last season, White carried the football 197 times for 1,335 yards with 14 touchdowns. Stewart believes White's running made the Mountaineers too one-dimensional on offense. Stewart doesn't want tailback Noel Devine running the ball every other down, either.
"On first-and-10, we're going to pass the ball," Stewart said. "We are not going to just let Pat run it or let Noel run it. We've got to spread the wealth. White knows where the second and third guys are now. That's what makes Pat better. Now, he's not going to be [former Louisville QB] Brian Brohm, but he's going to be better. He had a tremendous spring with flood routes and second and third reads. NFL guys came in and said, 'Wow, this guy is getting it.'"
White, who has yet to throw for 2,000 yards in a season, said he welcomes the new wrinkles on offense.
"We're going to put the ball in the hands of a lot more players," White said. "We're going to spread the wealth. Everybody needs to get more touches."
August 21st, 2008 at 12:39 AM ^
August 21st, 2008 at 12:56 AM ^
Yeah I agree....in the article it talks about how impressed the pro scouts were. I just cannot see it. I mean these quotes by Stewart are all prefaced really well or they are made to sound like it's just a new wrinkle. The subtext made me wonder. I mean I'm a freep reader or a guy who grew up listening to Carr tell stories as to why this was done or why not and if this was Carr he'd of said something like:
"This summer Pat came to me in my office and said,'Coach, I want to throw the ball more." He looked very determined. And I looked at him and smiled, much like I smile when I see all of your lovely faces for a press briefing. But anyhow I looked at him and said," Well Coach Loefler and I were talking about that and we thought why not."So we called up a few people and that was that. We feel he's ready."
And then a quote about Braveheart or Russell Crowe and then kickoff. This Stewart thing seemed to be that departure quote more than a pat's ready to throw quote. Lil Brother Big Brother stuff of indivduality. But who knows.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:42 AM ^
August 21st, 2008 at 8:25 AM ^
Where is the subtle jab? I'm not clear.
This is pretty much boiler-plate coach-speak.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:28 AM ^
August 21st, 2008 at 8:54 AM ^
Clearly Pat White cannot throw well. I know most of you have watched all the 2007 WVU games on ESPNU, and you all know he's got about as good an arm as Feagin. But I think another reason he had to run so often was because his receivers were rarely open.
And why did Pat White sit out almost the entire Pitt game with a hurt thumb on his non-throwing hand?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:08 AM ^
August 21st, 2008 at 9:20 AM ^
He hurt his thumb and went out immediately. He didn't fumble with his hurt thumb. Are you suggesting RR kept him out because he was afraid he would fumble?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:46 AM ^
Baleedat, I don't know what you want me to say.
You, yourself, have suggested that most of White's value is in his legs. When people carry the ball, they do carry it in both hands. He broke his hand. That makes it hard to carry the ball. He missed roughly 2 quarters of football with the broken hand, but did come back - upon which time he promptly fumbled the ball and killed the WVU drive with a 10 yard loss on said fumble. So where did he not show heart, which is what you're getting at? He came back. He did play. You wanted him to come back earlier?
Remember Northwestern? When Henne was sort of hurt/sort of not, but we tried to avoid playing him like he had the plague, because we didn't want to aggravate the injury, but he came back because we were down late? Why don't you bitch and complain about that? Clearly he was capable of playing, he just didn't "have the guts", I guess.
August 21st, 2008 at 10:48 AM ^
Regarding Henne/Northwestern, if it was the last game of the regular season and UM had been playing for a shot at a national title I would have bitched.
Although I do enjoy a good debate from time to time, I don't really give a shit about Pat White or the WVU Pitt game. It's a slow news day and I was just asking a question, and looking for an answer (see mjvancam's explaination below).
August 21st, 2008 at 9:48 AM ^
If White throws for 3,000 yards and WVU wins 12 games, it was a good decision. If they fall back towards earth, maybe PW should have run more.
Frankly, I will NEVER fault a coach for running plays that work, even if it is boring as hell. Bo won a lot of games because other teams couldn't line up and stop the tail back between the tackles. Everyone knew it was coming, but it didn't matter. WVU has been extrememly successful running PW a lot.
Let me preface this remark by saying I did not watch much WVU football last year. Regarding his injured non-throwing thumb. If he operates like most typical option QBs who have to do a lot of ball movements and pitches with either hand, the typical concept of throwing hand is irrelevant. While the stresses may not be as extreme as actually throwing the ball down field, both hands are in effect "throwing" hands if pitches or fake hand offs need to be executed to either direction.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:50 AM ^
I haven't noticed a lot of subtlety out of our friends west of Virginia. It seems to me, when they want to insult someone they will, say, make a youtube video where they urinate on that person's picture or say things like "AAAAHHHH WHoReRod lIKes him some CHearleeders hE married won and is sTill gettin' after 'em! you're maze and Blew eYEs will bleed from all the teh bubBle Skreens, inshallah." I added that last, oddly innapropriate arabic part usually it would be something like "thanK Jebus you done took chokeRod, Stews gonna throw sOme downfeild passes instaed of running rite into the defense everytiime!!!!"
While I am sure schools have already told recruits RR won't throw the ball, I doubt schools will say, "RR is going to turn you into Pat White!"
I laugh when "Stew" says this kind of thing because because, ha ha, Pat White isn't so gud when he makes with the passing. I thought for a moment this post was suggesting "Stew" was insulting White because "Stew" basically says, "White sux at passing but he's not THAT bad and Jebus can't someone else on this freakin' team do, like, something because White is getting beaten to a pulp and as the rest of this article will demonstrate when White gets hurt we lose. RR sleeps with cheerleaders!"
August 21st, 2008 at 2:42 PM ^
August 21st, 2008 at 10:03 AM ^