With football season around the corner, let’s look back at the legends who paved the foundation of West Virginia’s football program.
Rushing Records
Avon Cobourne begins our look into the record books, as he holds records in three rushing categories. The WVU Sports Hall of Famer is the all-time leader in rushing yards (5164), rushes (1050), and 100-yard rushing games (28).
While Cobourne also rushed for 42 touchdowns in gold and blue, that’s only good for third in WVU history, with Pat White rushing for 47 and Steve Slaton holding the record with 50 rushing touchdowns. Slaton also holds the record for total touchdowns, with 55.
White is also the second leading rusher in program history, but does hold the record for the most yards per rushing attempt (6.5497). In terms of the longest rush in program history, Pat Randolph ran for 96 yards against Northern Illinois in 1986.
While not holding any records, Noel Devine ranks within the Top 6 in every rushing category. There is one current Mountaineer within the Top 10 of a category. CJ Donaldson’s 82 yard touchdown run against Towson in 2022 is the 7th longest rush in Mountaineers history.
Passing Records
One name smothers the record books when it comes to passing stats, with Geno Smith holding seven different records. He leads the Mountaineers all time in pass attempts (1465), pass completions (988), passing yards (11662), passing touchdowns (98), times sacked (77), total plays (1711), and total yards (12003). Smith doesn’t rank far behind for any other category besides passing interceptions, where his 21 are tied for 21st all time.
Dan Kendra threw the most interceptions in a Mountaineer uniform with 47 over his collegiate career. While Geno Smith ranks 4th for the longest pass in WVU history, the record belongs to Ben Williams Jr. Williams was forced to start against Penn State in 1973 because of injuries and threw a 96 yard touchdown pass to Danny Buggs. It was also the first time an African-American started at quarterback for West Virginia.
The final passing record is for the most 300-yard passing games. While Geno Smith accomplished 17 of these games during his time in Morgantown, that would only be good enough for second place. Will Grier holds the record with 19 games.
Receiving Records
Of the four receiving records tracked, they are split between two WVU Sports Hall of Famers. Tavon Austin holds the records for receptions (288) and receiving yards (3413), and Stedman Bailey has the most receiving touchdowns (41) and 100-yard receiving games (14).
Bailey is slightly more dominant in the record books, placing no lower than second in any category. Austin’s 29 receiving touchdowns place him third in West Virginia’s history, as David Sills caught 35 touchdowns. Bailey also comes closer to Danny Buggs’ 96-yard record longest reception, as mentioned earlier.
Defensive Records
Steve Newberry owns the interception record for the Mountaineers with 20, but Tom Pridemore made the most of his 15 interceptions. Pridemore holds the record for most interception yards with 398 while also having the longest interception in WVU history with 100 yards. The record for the most passes broken up belongs to Brian King, with 51.Three players have recorded three pick-sixes with the Mountaineers, with those being Charles Donaldson, Aaron Beasley, and Vann Washington.
Grant Wiley forced the most fumbles out of anyone in blue and gold, racking up nine. Jeff Macerelli’s six fumble recoveries place him atop the record books, but it only took one fumble recovery in the Orange Bowl for Darwin Cook to find his name in history. His 99-yard scoop and score against Clemson in 2012 is the longest fumble recovery and the most fumble recovery yards in West Virginia history. Only one player has multiple fumble recovery touchdowns, with Karl Joseph finding two.
Moving over to tackling, Darryl Talley holds the records for most tackles (484) and tackle assists (202). Not far behind in either category is Grant Wiley, who holds the record for most solo tackles (288). Dante Stills holds three different West Virginia records, leading all-time in tackles for loss (52.5), tackles for loss yards (250), and sack yards (177). Stills ranks high in the sacks record books, but that still belongs to Canute Curtis with his 34.5 collegiate sacks.
Special Teams Records
The record books for special teams feature plenty of special players. Tavon Austin dominates the kickoff return records, having the most returns (97), the most yards from kickoff returns (2407), and being tied for the most kickoff return touchdowns with Shawn Terry (4). They are also two of six Mountaineers to have gotten 100 big ones off of a kickoff return. The other four players are Kenny Marbury, Nate Terry, Mario Alford, and Shelton Gibson.
Steve Superick had the most punts (266) and punting yards (10892) in school history. The longest punt belongs to Todd Sauerbrun, flipping a ball 90 yards against Nebraska in 1994. Willie Drewrey fielded the most punts in Mountaineer history (108) and returned them for a record 1196 yards. John Mallory’s 7 punt return touchdowns are the most for West Virginia, and Danny Buggs holds the record for longest punt return with 95.
Finally, two kickers hold three different records for the Mountaineers. Paul Woodside went 74/92 on field goals during his West Virginia career, both records for the most field goals attempted and made. Woodside also holds the record for the longest field goal, with a 55 yard kick against Louisville in 1984. Pat McAfee went 210/212 on PATs, both records for the most attempted and most made. Additionally, McAfee holds the all-time record for the most points in West Virginia history with 384.
All statistics are courtesy of wvustats.com.
