MORGANTOWN — Good things tend to happen when Jahiem White has the ball in his hands.
West Virginia’s sophomore running back broke out as one of the best playmakers in the country at the end of last season and he figured to play a major role in the Mountaineers’ offense this season.
So it came as a surprise when White only touched the ball 10 times during WVU’s 34-12 loss to Penn State on Saturday.
White got banged up in the first half while pass blocking and missed some time in the middle of the game, but WVU coach Neal Brown said he still should’ve gotten more looks.
“He got injured and missed a good chunk in the second and third quarters, but we didn’t get him enough touches in general,” Brown said. “I thought he and CJ (Donaldson) did some good things in the run game.”
White carried the ball eight times for 39 yards against the Nittany Lions. He also caught two passes for seven yards.
Six of White’s touches came in the first quarter prior to his injury. From there, he had one touch in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth.
WVU was 5-0 when White carried the ball at least 10 times in 2023. White averaged more than 14 touches per game over the final six games last season, in which WVU went 5-1.
Brown said the opportunities for White to touch the ball more were there, but WVU didn’t take advantage of them.
“Most everything we do in the run game is in the read game,” Brown explained. “There were a couple of misreads when he should’ve gotten the ball and there are at least two passing plays when he should’ve gotten the ball.”
“We call runs plays that have options to them and (quarterback) Garrett (Greene) missed some of the reads on those options,” offensive coordinator Chad Scott added. “Obviously you want to get more of those reads right than wrong, but we’ve definitely got to get Jaheim the ball more.”
Brown, who calls plays on offense, also took some responsibility, saying he should have called more plays specifically to go to White.
“His touches should have been more but myself as the play caller, I should’ve called more plays to get him touches as well,” he said.
White averaged 7.7 yards per carry last season and 25 yards per reception on five catches. After a slow start to the year, White put up 776 total yards of offense across the final six games of the season.
If everything goes to plan, White won’t have to play the entire game against FCS opponent Albany this Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN+), but there is clear incentive to get him the ball as much as possible moving forward.
