West Virginia

York High’s Jahiem White keeps racking up accolades after breakout year for West Virginia

Published

1 year ago

December 19, 2023

York High’s Jahiem White keeps racking up accolades after breakout year for West Virginia

After a breakout season for West Virginia, Jahiem White continues to be recognized as one of the top freshman in college football.

The York High grad was named to the Pro Football Focus College All-Freshman team Monday. Pro Football Focus is an analytics website that has become one of the most reputable sources for football analysis over the past two decades.

White has also been named a freshman All-American by the College Football Network (first team) and The Athletic (second team). He was an honorable mention selection on the All-Big 12 team.

White has rushed for 792 yards on just 97 carries this season. His 8.2 yards per carry is the highest mark for any running back — of any grade — in the country. He also picked up 110 receiving yards on just three receptions (37 yards per catch) and scored five total touchdowns.

There was buzz around the true freshman since he enrolled at West Virginia this past spring, but he entered the season as a backup and did not the field opening night against Penn State. But his playing time increased throughout the season and he became the breakout star for a Mountaineers team that went 8-4.

White had four games with over 100 yards rushing. That included a 200-yard performance against Cincinnati and a 133-yard game against Baylor in which he caught the winning touchdown in the final minute.

The Mountaineers will play North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte on Dec. 27 at 5:30 p.m.

More on White: Here’s how a kid named ‘Florida’ became one of York County’s greatest football players

White appears to just be getting started at West Virginia. The 5-foot-7 running back recently committed to the school’s name, image and likeness collective “The Country Roads Trust” for his sophomore season. He posted on Twitter that he “can’t wait for his next season” with the Mountaineers.

A Miami native, White moved to York in eighth grade and established himself as one of the top high school football players to come out of the YAIAA. He finished his career as York High’s all-time leading rusher with 5,758 career yards. That mark put him second in league history despite the fact his sophomore season was shortened due to COVID and the Bearcats only played nine regular season games his junior and senior years.

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on X at @bad2theallibone.

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West Virginia

Examining West Virginia's lost offensive production after the 2024 season

Published

31 minutes ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Examining West Virginia’s lost offensive production after the 2024 season

West Virginia is in the midst of a roster overhaul as new head coach Rich Rodriguez starts to build from the ground up. In the last weeks, the Mountaineers have lost dozens of players either to the transfer portal or to eligibility loss, and we look at how much production from this past season will not be returning.

On offense, about 20 guys who recorded snaps this past season will not be returning to the Mountaineers. Nine are out of eligibility, and nine have entered the transfer portal, while that number could still increase.

On offense as a whole, West Virginia has lost 83.25 percent of the total snaps played. 64.52 percent of the snaps lost are due to running out of eligibility. Out of WVU’s top four snap totals, all four came on the offensive line.

Three of them exhausted their eligibility (Ja’Quay Hubbard, Nick Malone, Brandon Yates), and the fourth (Tomas Rimac) entered the transfer portal.

Number of Snaps Lost

Note: In the table above, under the column ‘Total Percentage Lost’, the 52.42% and 46.58% are the share of the total number of snaps played, not the total numebr of snaps played at each position

At the quarterback position, Garrett Greene does not have any remaining eligibility. Greene accounted for just about 30 percent of WVU’s rushing yards, 84 percent of WVU’s passing yards, as well as 22 percent of their scores on the ground, and 75 percent of their passing touchdowns thrown.

At running back the loss of CJ Donaldson looms large. He accounted for 29 percent of WVU’s rushing total this season and between him and others who tallied up much lesser totals, West Virginia has lost 60.21 percent of their rush yards from this past season.

At the receiver position, it’s even more drastic. West Virginia has lost Hudson Clement, DayDay Farmer, Traylon Ray, Justin Robinson, and Kole Taylor, among others who were some of WVU’s top pass catchers. The Mountaineers have lost 76.23 percent of their receiving yards from last year as well as 80 percent of their receiving touchdowns.

Offensive Production Lost

Overall, there is a significant loss on the offensive side of the ball.

West Virginia lost most of their passing game as well as their receiving game due to guys leaving the program. While it’s easy to point to Greene in the passing game because he was the starting quarterback for the majority of the year, most of the production lost at receiver was due to guys entering the transfer portal. At running back, it was roughly a 50-50 split between what percent was lost to the portal and what was lost to eligibility, as Greene as well as Donaldson, were the main contributing factors there.

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West Virginia

2 charged in death investigation, victim identified

Published

9 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

2 charged in death investigation, victim identified

UPDATE 11:50 P.M. 12/24/2024

MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ)-Two people are facing charges in connection with a death investigation in Mason County.

Investigators found the remains of a man Tuesday who had been reported missing. The remains were found along Broad Run Road in Letart.

Authorities arrested Brandon Harbaugh and Jodi Gerlach a short time later.

Harbaugh and Gerlach are charged with concealment of a deceased human body and conspiracy, according to Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Seth Gaskins.

Investigators identified the victim as Michael S. Phalen, 65, of New Haven, West Virginia. Investigators say Phalen was reported missing Dec. 12.

Harbaugh and Gerlach were arraigned Tuesday night in Mason County are in the Western Regional Jail on a $75,000 cash or surety bond.

UPDATE 7 P.M. 12/24/2024

MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -A death investigation is underway after human remains were found in Mason County, according to Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Seth Gaskins.

Investigators found the remains of a missing adult male along Broad Run Road in Letart on Tuesday afternoon.

The Mason County Prosecuting Attorney identified the victim as Michael S. Phalen, 65, of New Haven, West Virginia.

Gaskins said that two individuals have been arrested in connection with the investigation. Both are charged with concealment of a deceased human body and conspiracy, although their identities have not been announced.

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West Virginia

Chad Scott Returning to West Virginia

Published

17 hours ago

December 24, 2024

Press Room

Accoring to Mike Casazza of 247 Sports, West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez will retain assistant coach Chad Scott as part of his staff.

Scott spent the last six seasons under former head coach Neal Brown as the running backs coach and served as the offensive coordinator the last two seasons. He was also named the interim head coach for the Frisco Bowl.

The Mountaineer rushing attack ranked ninth among Power Four schools in rushing yards per game at 192.7 this past season and WVU was one of two FBS teams that has three players who have rushed for 630 yards or more.

Scott will be entering his19th season as an assistant coach. He began his career at Troy before taking jobs at Texas Tech (2010-12), Kentucky (2013-15), North Carolina (2016-18), Louisville (2019), and landed in West Virginia with Neal Brown in 2019.