Inside WVU’s QB Chaos and How Pat White is Helping Them Handle the Pressure

At the beginning of the season, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez continued to reiterate that he had five quarterbacks he thought he could win with this season. He didn't, however, expect to run through all five of them, starting four of them through the first seven games of the season, but that's where we are.

It's been difficult for anyone in that room to find any success because of the constant rotating door at the position, but also because the supporting cast hasn't been holding up their end of the bargain. When things aren't going well and it's a game of musical chairs in terms of playing time, it can be easy for the guys in that room to hang their heads and feel defeated.

Assistant quarterbacks coach and legendary Mountaineer QB Pat White has been doing his best to keep their spirits high.

“Things have been difficult. They’ve been getting yelled at, cursed at, and when you lose it’s kind of hard to see anything positive," White said on the Rich Rodriguez show Monday night. "I just reminded them to refuse to allow anything inside of the game, outside of the game, to take away their joy from the game.

“I try to be candid with them," he continued. "I let them know that there was a time that I didn’t think I would ever be a quarterback here at West Virginia. I leaned on people I trusted, in particular my father."

Each of these quarterbacks on the roster has probably had the thought pop into their head that it's not going to work out for them in Morgantown. It's a natural reaction when you endure struggles like this, but it won't last forever. That supporting cast will improve with another offseason of recruiting, and they, too, will improve the longer they are in the system.

"I was fortunate; I got a year in the system before I stepped on the field," White said. "This is each of their first year in the system, and we’re expecting them to be perfect, and it’s not going to be. They’re still learning what coach wants and getting used to his philosophy and some of his reads.”

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