Great West Virginia Quarterbacks
Submitted by: Troy Young
West Virginia University has a rich tradition of quarterbacks and other great players, many of which played in the NFL. One even started and won a Superbowl for the New York Giants.
Geno Smith is set to shatter practically every record a quarterback can hold for West Virginia University. Currently, Smith wears #12 and is a Junior and with a highly competitive class entering the draft, it’s almost certain that he will play his senior year for WVU. Smith played his first couple years under the shadow of Pat White, who currently holds most of those records for a career Mountaineer passer. Geno has won the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week several times and seems to consistently pass for 400+ yards a game nearly ever week. WVU even surmounted 500 yards of total offense against #1 LSU but the Mountaineer defense displayed it’s consistent weakness to ultimately give up even more.
Geno follows a long line of quality quarterbacks to wear the gold and blue WVU jersey. West Virginia’s current Athletic Director, Oliver Luck, was a WVU player who went on to play quarterback in the NFL from 1983-1986 for the Houston Oilers. Luck’s son, Andrew, is also the leading candidate for the 2011 Heisman Trophy, which goes to the best collegiate football player in the nation each year.
After Luck went on to the NFL, Jeff Hostetler took the reigns and led WVU to beat both Penn State and Pitt for the first time in many years and he also led the Mountaineers to a victory over the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs in the Blue Bonnet Bowl. Hostetler was drafted by the New York Giants and had a very successful career that began under the shadow of Phil Simms, but like Simms, Hostetler led the Giants to a Super Bowl title. Hostetler is married to the daughter of his former college coach, Don Nehlen.
Then along came perhaps the most dynamic quarterback WVU and most college football had ever seen, Major Harris. As a freshman, Harris struggle some, but he showed the world what he was capable of. In 1988, he led WVU to their first undefeated regular season, but lost the National Championship to Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. As a Junior in 1989, his final season as a Mountaineer, Harris took the Mountaineers to the Gator Bowl, but again lost, this time to Clemson, 27-7. Harris also had the luxury of playing with probably the best all around team West Virginia had ever assembled. Many players from those years went on to play for the NFL and had successful careers.
In the 1990’s, Darren Studstill led WVU to it’s second undefeated season in 1993, but lost to Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Studstill was not a great passer but was a good all around athelete and was surrounded by a tremendous defense. Jake Kelchner was somewhat successful, but then Marc Bulger put up some impressive numbers for WVU before he went on to play for several NFL teams.
For most of Rich Rodriguez’ time as the Mountaineers’ head coach, Pat White did it all. He set records for most every category and it appears that Smith will likely shatter them all, except for rushing. White led WVU to wins over Georgia Tech in the 2006 Sugar Bowl and then Georgia in the 2007 Gator Bowl and overall, won four bowls for WVU.
About the Author: As avid WVU Mountaineer fans, Troy and Tammi Young follow the WVU athletic program closely and operate several West Virginia oriented web sites. Their online store sells West Virginia clothes and apparel for men, women and children as well as other great items such as WVU football jerseys auto accessories, toys and more.Visit
wvshop.com/wvu_kids.html
for more information.
Source:
isnare.com
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