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Neal Brown Relieved About Jahiem White Finally Exploding for Big Game

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WVU Football RB Jahiem White celebrates TD with Treylan Davis

Not only did the Mountaineers enjoy a convincing win over Oklahoma State, but they got Jahiem White going in the process. WVU head coach Neal Brown emphasized the importance of unleashing White leading up to the game throughout the week, and then again during his postgame press conference in Stillwater on Saturday night.

After only reaching 100 yards once through the first four games, and that being against an FCS program, White exploded for 158 yards and averaged 8.3 yards per touch in West Virginia’s 38-14 victory. A relieved Brown then discussed what helped White finally experience a big game.

“It’s been as much about us getting him the ball in the right situation. So, first I take ownership of that and that’s what I told him. I just told him, ‘listen, I take complete ownership from a touch perspective and how we’re getting you the ball from certain parts of the field, we’ve got to do a better job.’ He’s not a good player, he’s a great player. If this would have been a different game, we planned to throw it to him several times, too,” explained Brown.

White wasn’t alone in gashing the Oklahoma State defense either. Brown made sure to also mention CJ Donaldson, who collected 77 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns in his own right.

“Jahiem, going back to him, I think he’s a great player, he showed that and he was a tough tackle today. I thought CJ did a nice job. He had some tough runs but Jahiem really made people miss in space,” Brown added about both of WVU’s star running backs.

But of course, Brown had to also give credit to the offensive line. Brown brought up the offensive line played their most complete game as a group against the Cowboys. He even singled out center Brandon Yates for stepping up.

“I think it starts with Brandon Yates. I thought he did a really nice job. It’s a lot easier to evaluate those guys being on the field when I watch it on tape. So when I get on the plane and watch it, I’ll be able to have a better answer for you on Monday.”

White said he could feel the running game was ready to explode.

“Oh yeah, we’ve been practicing it all week. We knew they were going to play a lot of man this week. So that gave us an advantage with their safeties.”

Brown also touched on how what went well for his team lined up with what he knew they’d have to do in order to win.

“The keys were going to be who can run the football better, who can establish it, and then who can score points in the red zone, preferably touchdowns in the red zone. If you look at it, obviously we won the rushing game big, and then in the red zone, we didn’t score touchdowns every time, but we were 6-for-7. The one that we didn’t get was the kneel down there at the end of the game,” said Brown.

For a related story, Neal Brown wants WVU to enjoy the Oklahoma State win before turning the page to Iowa State.