By Mickey Furfari
MORGANTOWN — The football playing career of West Virginia quarterback Patrick White is not in jeopardy, coach Bill Stewart said Saturday after the 17-6 victory over Syracuse at which White was in street clothes.
Earlier in the day a rumor was making the rounds outside the stadium that the senior from Daphne, Ala., might not play again.
According to Stewart, he wanted to play. But the coaches and medical doctors thought it best that he not suit up. Stewart indicated that they think he will be able play in the next game against Auburn at home on Thursday night, Oct. 23.
Asked whether White’s career is in danger, the head coach replied, “Not one bit. He’s fine.”
He told the media at his post-game press conference:
“We coaches think we’re sharp guys, and I’m not any different than anyone else.
“Last week I certainly didn’t mean to lead anyone astray because I did the very best I could with our quarterback and his parents hoping that one day my son is good enough to play major college football.
“Maybe there will be a coach like me to look after him. I tried calling Mr. and Mrs. White every hour or two (after Patrick left the Rutgers game when suffering a hard hit to his head). Being who I am, a coach and not a doctor, I thought he would be doing well.
“He wasn’t nauseous and it wasn’t bad, no headache, he could sleep without being woken up every hour, and I talked about concussions. I always want to be honest with you all because without you we have no football and no sports.
“I was talking as a football coach, and I thought he was going to be good. In the paper today he said he was going to play. As of Thursday, I thought he was going to start for us.”
However, apparently various medical tests in mid-week indicated that White shouldn’t play on Saturday. The coach admittedly did not know that a concussion could show up three days after a collision.
“He practiced Tuesday and his head began to hurt,” Stewart recalled. “I looked at him and something didn’t seem right. (Trainer) David Kerns and our excellent medical staff saw the same thing.
“He’s so much better today. I know Pat wanted to play in the game, and he was very disappointed that we didn’t let him. So they decided physical rest and relaxation would be best.”
White started in the team’s first five games, but he left games 4 and 5 as a precautionary measure after being shaken up on plays.
West Virginia’s previously explosive, highly productive offense simply isn’t the same without the two-time Big East Offensive Player of the Year. That set of statistics for Saturday’s 17-6 victory over Syracuse tells a sad story.
