The University of West Virginia has had many great offensive talents over the years: Noel Devine, Steve Slaton, Tavon Austin, Avon Cobourne, and Geno Smith. If you ask any Mountaineer who the best of them all is in modern football, all fingers would point toward none other than Pat White. As the ultimate gesture of gratitude, word is that West Virginia University is officially retiring Pat White’s iconic No. 5 jersey.

Retiring a jersey has to be one of the highest honors in sports. Usually, the school has a strict rule that a player must make it into the College Football Hall of Fame before their jersey can be retired. However, the university decided to completely waive that rule for White because his impact on the school and the sport was simply too great to wait any longer. Truth be told, in his case, it has been a long time coming.

On Friday evening, the university’s Vice President and Director of Athletics, Wren Baker, announced that the department will retire Pat’s jersey later this fall inside Milan Puskar Stadium.

“Pat White was a generational player for West Virginia football and led our program through perhaps the greatest era in our history. Everywhere I go, I hear stories about the way Pat elevated our program and his teammates to greatness,” Baker said.

He doubled down:

“There is no question Pat deserves this ultimate honor. His legacy and success have been documented and appreciated by his teammates, national media, and college football fans all over the world. It has also been a privilege to watch him continue to pour himself into our program while serving on our coaching staff.

Pat White is a special person and one of the greatest Mountaineers of all time,” he further added.

If you watched college football in the mid-2000s, you know exactly how dangerous Pat White was. He was right up there with Michael Vick. Some even put him above Vick when it comes to the college level. He could throw as well as any quarterback of his time (64.6% completion percentage throughout his college career), and he could run as well as any running back.

By the time he finished his college career, he had racked up a mind-blowing 10,529 total yards of offense and scored 103 touchdowns.

He was actually the very first player in Big East Conference history to pass the 10,000-yard mark, and he set a record for the most rushing yards ever gained by a college quarterback. After all, the man’s finished in the top ten of Heisman Trophy voting twice.

Stats are great, but White is remembered most for being a ruthless winner. As the team’s starting quarterback, he led the Mountaineers to a fantastic 35-8 record. Even more impressive, he is still the only starting quarterback in the history of college football to play in and win four consecutive bowl games.

That includes two unforgettable upset victories on the national stage: beating Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl and taking down Oklahoma in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl. The Mountaineers’ head coach knew it was only a matter of time.

“Pat was a great player and a great leader in our program, and he was a dominant force in college football for four years,” Rich Rodriguez said. “He is very deserving of the honor of having his number retired.”

The coolest part about this upcoming celebration is where Pat White is today. He actually moved back to Morgantown and currently works on the West Virginia coaching staff as an offensive analyst. With this honor, he now joins a super-exclusive club. He is only the seventh football player in the entire history of West Virginia University to have his number retired.

All other six WVU retired numbers

The other six West Virginia Mountaineers players with retired numbers include three Pro Football Hall of Famers and some of the greatest college athletes to ever play the game.

#9 Major Harris (Quarterback): Long before Pat White, Harris was WVU’s original dual-threat wizard in the late 1980s. He led WVU to the 1988 national championship game and an undefeated season, and he finished third in the 1989 Heisman Trophy voting.

#21 Ira Errett “Rat” Rodgers (Fullback/Quarterback): Playing all the way back in the 1910s, Rodgers is the grandfather of Mountaineer football. He was the program’s first-ever consensus All-American in 1919 and was an unbelievable athlete. He earned 16 varsity letters across four different sports (football, basketball, baseball, and track) before later returning to coach the university’s football and baseball teams.

#66 Chuck Howley (Linebacker/Guard): Howley was an athletic freak in the 1950s, helping WVU win a Southern Conference championship.

He went on to an incredible NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, where he became a six-time Pro Bowler and achieved a feat that has still never been matched: he is the only player in NFL history to win Super Bowl MVP while playing for the losing team (Super Bowl V). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023.

#75 Sam Huff (Fullback/Lineman): One of the most feared and violent defenders to ever play the game.

Huff anchored the Mountaineers’ legendary 1953 team that went to the Sugar Bowl. In the NFL, he became a superstar for the New York Giants and Washington, famously becoming the first NFL player ever featured on the cover of Time magazine. He got inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame later in his life.

#90 Darryl Talley (Linebacker): If anything, arguably the greatest pure defender in school history. Talley scored 484 career tackles between 1979 and 1982. He went on to have a great NFL career with the Buffalo Bills. Starting in four consecutive Super Bowls and winning the 1990 Jack Lambert Award as the NFL’s and nation’s top best linebacker.

#77 Bruce Bosley (Tackle/Guard): A true ironman from the 1952–1955 era. Bosley apparently played on both the offensive and defensive lines. He was a consensus All-American who helped WVU secure a top-10 national ranking. Easily considered as one of the toughest linemen of his generation.