On the In The Gun Podcast, a WVU Football podcast hosts Jed Drenning and Wes Uhler were joined by Owen Schmitt, Pat White and Steve Slaton, to which Uhler asked the trio about Pat McAfee’s success and if they saw it coming as well as what it was like being teammates with the punter turned sports media star.
“Pat (McAfee) was a character,” Slaton said.”He was a good dude, he was a hard worker. I mean he was lifting as much as us skill positions.”
Slaton and Schmitt spent three years with McAfee, while White spent his whole collegiate career with the punter. The Mountaineers won four-straight bowls from 2005-2008. 2007 was arguably their best season together when they were No. 2 in the country but fell to Pitt in their last game of the season, spoiling their bid to the national championship game.
“Pat’s charisma you can see it, you can feel it and he’s making his rounds he’s being honest and he did it with his friends and he did it his way, I’m very proud of him even if he doesn’t want to hear it,” Slaton said.”It’s something that you see it, you see it on TV, you see it on College Gameday, you see it while he’s wrestling (WWE), he’s always had that charisma.”
The Pat McAfee Show first aired on Sept. 9, 2019, as a part of a multiple-year deal with DAZN and Westwood One, McAfee would appear on College Gameday in that same year, becoming a full-time member in 2022. In May of 2023, McAfee signed a five-year deal with ESPN worth $85 million with The Pat McAfee show debuting on the network on Sept. 7, 2023.
“We had something every year at the end of (training) camp called the Gong Show and Pat was always the host and Pat always killed it. It was inevitable for him to be where he is today. Shout out to Pat man,” White said.
From his time in college to his career in the NFL and now on air, McAfee caught the eyes of many for his comedic ways and ability to make the most of every moment on and off the field, building numerous connections, while keeping his life long friends right by his side through it all.
“Just the honesty of what he’s doing, he’s such a genuine dude when you talk to him and he’s built those relationships, like he did at West Virginia and just has carried that kind of uniqueness,” Schmitt said.
