West Virginia retires record-setting QB Pat White's No. 5 jersey - ESPN

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Pat White's record-setting career at West Virginia two decades ago came full circle Saturday when the school retired his No. 5 jersey.

A ceremony was held before kickoff of the Mountaineers' season opener against Coastal Carolina. The crowd was decked out in white T-shirts and jerseys while West Virginia's players donned white road jerseys and pants, the same combination used 18 years after the school honored White in his final home game on a snowy December night.

White went 35-8 as a starter and established himself as one of the nation's top dual-threat quarterbacks. He is the only starting quarterback in NCAA history to win four bowl games, including the Sugar Bowl against Georgia after the 2005 season and the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma after the 2007 season.

«Twenty years later, they're still talking about what he did and what his teammates did,» West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez told reporters earlier in the week.

Rodriguez recruited White out of Daphne, Alabama, in 2004. Rodriguez gave him the chance to play quarterback, unlike other schools that wanted him to switch to different positions.

«To this day, he was always about the team first and what do I need to do to have West Virginia have success,» Rodriguez said. «So I'm really proud of him.»

White now is West Virginia's assistant quarterbacks coach and an assistant to Rodriguez, who returned a year ago for his second coaching stint at his alma mater.

Getting to play at West Virginia «means that I helped show a lot of men from lower Alabama that there's more out there in this world than just Alabama and Auburn football,» White said.

White is the seventh West Virginia football player whose jersey number has been retired.

He stormed onto the