Jahiem White provided a much-needed spark for West Virginia’s offense in 2023.
As a true freshman, he had 842 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns on 109 carries, averaging 7.7 yards per carry. In the passing game, he had five catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Now as a sophomore, White is looking to take it up a notch and continue to be a threat in WVU’s offense.
“With Jahiem it’s been a challenge, you know because there’s the reality of a sophomore slump those happen a lot and so we’ve just trying to hit it head on,” Head coach Neal Brown said Wednesday. “I talked to him about, ‘look at your numbers from last year and if I told you you’re going to have the same numbers is that something you’re going to be happy with?’ and the answer is no like he’s not going to be happy with that.”
White didn’t see the field a ton early on in the season, besides getting 12 carries against FCS Duquesne which he took for 110 yards and a touchdown. His ‘breakout’ game occurred against UCF in week eight, where he had 85 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. From that point on, White became a crucial piece in the Mountaineers’ offense and had 572 rushing yards in their final five games.
“The other thing with Jahiem is, I think he’s special like I really do he can do a lot. Now, he’s maturing as a player and as a guy so there’s a lot of room of improvement but he can do a lot of things,” Brown said. “There’s not a whole lot of people talking about him, you’re (the media) asking questions about him but I didn’t get one question about him at media days not one person asked me about him. I don’t I haven’t done an interview where somebody’s asked me about him and so he’s flying under the radar. And we mentioned those things and so he’s he understands that.”
In the 2024 season, White will look to continue to establish himself while avoiding the ‘sophomore slump’. With expectations high for West Virginia, he will look to be pivotal to their offensive success, earning respect from the media as well as opposing coaches and players.
