West Virginia has seen some great quarterback play over the years, specifically since the turn of the century. Who was the best at the position since 2000? We rank the top five below.
Note: Garrett Greene is not eligible due to being an active player.
Paul Chapman-USA TODAY Sports
I had a difficult time putting Marshall at No. 5 rather than No. 4. Between he and the next guy, it was splitting hairs. Marshall walked so Pat White could run. From 2002-04, he compiled a 16-4 record against Big East opponents and was named Big East Offensive Player of the Year in 2004. In addition to throwing for 43 touchdowns in his career, he scored another 24 with his legs.
Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
During his playing career, you probably would have never thought he’d land on a list like this. But when you look at the overall production and record as a starter, he’s absolutely worthy of this ranking. Howard was not the most refined passer by any means, but his grit and toughness go unmatched. In my opinion, Howard is still under-appreciated. He’s one of just four quarterbacks to lead WVU to a 10-win season in the last 31 years – Jake Kelchner, Pat White, and Geno Smith being the others.
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Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Grier may not have won 10 games like the previously mentioned Howard, but the two schedules he played against were significantly tougher than what that 2016 group saw. Plus, Grier had the Mountaineers ranked as high as No. 6 in the AP Top 25 poll in 2018 and were one win away from appearing in the Big 12 Conference championship game. Like the next guy on this list, he put up video game numbers. 7,354 yards and 71 touchdowns in two seasons is insane.
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The best pure passer in school history? You could make a case for Grier or Marc Bulger, but it’s Geno for me. His program record 11,662 yards and 98 touchdowns may stand the test of time. A true generational talent and one that we may never see in Morgantown as far as throwing the ball is concerned, completing 67.4% of his passes for his career.
Christopher Gooley-USA TODAY Sports
With all due respect to the others on this list, none of them are even in the same stratosphere as Pat White. He not only helped put West Virginia back on the map, but he had the Mountaineers on the doorstep of a national championship appearance in 2007. It blows my mind to this day how he never finished higher than sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting. White led the golden era of Mountaineer football. Had he arrived a few years later he would have been considered a surefire first-round pick.
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Efforts to expand career pathways for West Virginia high school students continue to grow.
West Virginia Director of Career Technical Education Adam Canter shared a positive update about the Classroom 2 Career (C2C) initiative during the June state Board of Education meeting.
Adam Canter
Canter said the C2C initiative was launched around five years ago with a clear goal in mind: to prepare West Virginia youth for the workplace.
“It was basically 2.0 of what was Simulated Workplace, that was a national model for changing the classroom to being an actual simulated environment of what a student will experience in the actual real world.” Canter said.
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Canter said C2C began with a simple question.
“How can we get students out of a simulated environment, actually get real business partners, and get them employed or at least to experience something that they’re going to be in the real world?” Canter described.
A database was launched toward achieving that goal. Canter said the database was a communication tool for teachers, students, and administrators to log all of the activities they were already doing.
Canter reported that in 2025, more than 2,000 students worked in C2C apprenticeships. Those students garnered more than $5 million and worked more than 350,000 hours through 600 business partners that work with Classroom 2 Career.
The West Virginia Department of Education had been preparing students through its Career Technical Education (CTE), but Canter said not enough people knew about it. The collection tool addressed that issue by becoming a hub for CTE and related information.
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Canter said C2C has two categories that activities fit into — “community” and “on-the-job training.”
The community category refers to work requiring collaboration, Canter explained.
“(It’s) where we track when a student does something out of the classroom with some type of partner,” Canter said. “So maybe they take a food truck and they work on a Friday night, and the classroom works as an entity, as a business partner, they get experience what it would be like to own that food truck, or they get to change the oil, or they get to cut someone’s hair in cosmetology, and we track all of those hours under a category called ‘community.’”
The second category is “on-the-job” training.
“This is what we historically think of as real experience, a student gets hired, they go to work,” Canter said. “In that category, that’s what we try to focus most of our reporting on, because that’s what people think of when they think of an internship or an apprenticeship.”
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Canter emphasized that the C2C initiative is a big deal, and he’s excited to see it continue to grow. He mentioned that CTE’s impacts are occurring all around the state, including healthcare partnerships. Canter said 51 schools are gotten on board with pipelines that enable students to complete clinical work, right at hospitals.
Canter mentioned three partnerships in particular that exemplify the WVDE’s goals.
The Governor’s School of Entrepreneurship (GSE) program is coming up in July on Marshall University’s campus. The program has been redesigned for this year, becoming an immersive 10-day experience to teach students about starting businesses.
Hope Gas and the West Virginia Department of Education’s partnership for the Hope Pathways program in Logan County. The program is open for high school juniors and seniors, providing them with the technical skills required for careers with Hope Gas and related sectors. The idea behind the initiative is to boost West Virginia’s workforce by keeping its homegrown talent closer to home.
Most recently, the WVDE and Marshall University announced an aviation partnership to launch the AIRWV (Aviation Innovation and Readiness West Virginia) Pathway. AIRWV will give students from Grades K-12 introductions into the aviation industry. The partnership is for five years, with the idea of continuing it further into the future.
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Five pilot counties are already on board with the AIRWV Pathway: Barbour, Clay, Jackson, Kanawha, and Logan. The WVDE said those counties will roll out the program in Fall 2026.
Canter said these partnerships impact students of all ages.
“The neat things about these three is that we’re starting in elementary school,” Canter said. “We’re doing awareness campaigns with teachers; we’re creating universal trainings that we’re all speaking the same language. We’re moving that training to middle school, so they’ll do exploration of careers in that field. Then, in high school, we’re tailoring it to what post-secondary opportunities and employment opportunities exist.”
Canter mentioned a Wetzel County student’s story with Classroom 2 Career as a shining example of the initiative. Canter said the student, John Wade, received an internship at American Heavy Plates, and his school took him to work, to get a social security card, and all the components he would need.
Canter noted said the company decided to hire Wade, and his career is all thanks to the Classroom 2 Career apprenticeship.
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Victor Gabriel
State Board of Education Vice President Victor Gabriel praised Canter for his enthusiastic report.
“I feel your excitement clear up here, you’re one of those rare people that loves what they do,” Gabriel said. “I’m sure that’s not your only success story, I’m sure there’s thousands.”
Gabriel emphasized that career readiness should be a big priority for the state board.
“Because not everybody is college material,” Gabriel said. “I think that’s an area that we really need to concentrate on.”
MALLORY, W.Va. — A Logan County man is in custody after leading police on a vehicle chase while intoxicated.
John Adkins
John Roger Adkins, 21, of Mallory, was arrested Thursday. He was charged with 21 counts, including driving under the influence, reckless driving, and destruction of property.
Adkins is accused of arguing with a gas station employee, bringing Logan County deputies to the scene.
When law enforcement arrived, Adkins allegedly got in his vehicle and recklessly departed the scene.
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According to a criminal complaint in Logan County Magistrate Court, Adkins let a passenger out of the car before leading officers on a chase. Adkins reportedly violated several traffic rules during the pursuit, coming to stop only after the vehicle lost a tire.
Authorities said Adkins took off on foot after his vehicle stopped, even trying to break into another car. Officers were eventually able to put Adkins under arrest.
The criminal complaint said deputies found an open container of alcohol in the vehicle Adkins had been driving, and they were unable to find any insurance or registration.
Adkins is in the Southwestern Regional Jail on $100,000 cash-only bail.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Five people were taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained when a strong wind tore through an area occupied by fans at the Morgantown Super Regional NCAA baseball tournament game between West Virginia and Cal Poly on Saturday, according to the university.
Video from the storm showed rain and wind that reached speeds of 40 mph tearing up a tent, with one person flying through the air while trying to hold it down as another person rolls uncontrollably down a hill.
Other fans scrambled for safety from an area known as Randy’s Ridge near the Kendrick Family Ballpark.
“I was just trying to hold my weight on the pole with the cement block, and then it started sliding, and then another guy joined in, and he’s trying to hold another pole, and then a big gust of wind came,” West Virginia fan Keith Hill told WAJR radio. “It just started sliding really hard, and people got caught up in the ropes and the poles.”
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West Virginia University police confirmed that five people were transported to a hospital.
The game was in a weather delay at the time.
“We have been in touch with health-care providers in the area to ensure those affected are supported in their recovery,” West Virginia athletics spokesperson Michael Fragale said in a statement.
West Virginia won the game 17-1 to advance to the College World Series for the first time in program history.
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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
