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00:00 We got running back Jaheim White.
00:02 Questions for Jaheim?
00:04 So Jaheim, just what were your expectations
00:08 as a true freshman?
00:10 Have you met those, exceeded them, got less than--
00:14 I mean, you've become a major contributor.
00:16 So what have you thought of your year?
00:19 It's going well.
00:22 I still got a lot to work on and things to improve on,
00:26 but I feel like everything's going pretty well.
00:29 When you got here in January, what
00:31 did you think your freshman year would be like?
00:33 Did you have expectations?
00:35 No, it was just more like to come in, do what I do,
00:39 show my talent, and work harder than everybody else.
00:44 Jaheim, what does it mean to you when you hear--
00:46 because we talk about the coaches and other running
00:48 backs, and they all just praise you up and down,
00:50 like what even CJ did 20 minutes ago.
00:53 What does that mean to you?
00:55 I mean, it's a good thing, but I work with a chip on my shoulder
01:01 and I just work.
01:02 Coaches have talked about you saying sometimes
01:09 that it's the other things outside of having the ball that
01:12 have kept you from getting more opportunities, blocking,
01:15 game things.
01:16 Have you realized that?
01:17 And how hard have you worked to improve in those areas?
01:20 Yeah, I realize it a lot.
01:21 Like, for my abilities, all around,
01:24 I'm able to catch the ball.
01:26 I'm able to go block anybody.
01:30 But yeah.
01:32 Sweet.
01:32 Mm-hmm.
01:35 When you came in, did you expect to play right away?
01:38 Yeah.
01:39 Yeah.
01:41 Even with the guys ahead returning?
01:42 Yeah, depending on how I come and approach it, play,
01:46 work hard.
01:48 Is it just a product of you just having self-confidence
01:51 in your ability?
01:52 Yes, sir.
01:52 Yeah.
01:53 Yes, sir.
01:55 Jeanine, Neil mentioned after the game
01:57 that he felt you practiced really well this past week,
01:59 even better than before.
02:01 And that's why you're able to get more opportunities.
02:03 Did you feel that?
02:04 What do you think you maybe did differently
02:06 that he would say that?
02:08 It was more of me moving around in my body language.
02:12 That was the main thing I had to work on and focus on.
02:16 And then once I fixed that, the gates are open.
02:21 Do you mean body language on the field, like in plays,
02:23 or just in general?
02:25 Just in general, like all around.
02:28 Your high school stats were off the charts good.
02:31 Did you get a feeling like, yeah, I produced this,
02:34 but there's always the doubters out there saying, yeah, bud,
02:36 he's small.
02:38 Or did you have any of that in the back of your mind,
02:40 like I got to prove these guys wrong?
02:42 Yeah.
02:43 If you wake up every day and don't
02:45 think you got to prove somebody wrong,
02:47 you got to prove everybody wrong.
02:48 So that was my main thing.
02:51 Me being slept on in high school,
02:53 coming back and working hard is just a big step for me,
03:00 mentally.
03:01 Your speed is pretty natural, but strength isn't.
03:04 I mean, you can have some strength,
03:05 but that you build on.
03:09 Are you more proud of what you've done strength-wise
03:11 than with your speed?
03:12 Yes, I'm very proud of what I've been doing with strength-wise.
03:16 Mike Jobin gave me right.
03:19 Every day, workouts, lifting in the morning,
03:23 extra conditioning and all that.
03:24 So yeah.
03:25 How hard is it?
03:26 And where would you be if you didn't do that?
03:29 How hard is it?
03:31 I mean--
03:32 It requires a lot of work.
03:33 Yeah, it's a lot of work.
03:34 But it's hard, but it's nothing like, you know what I'm saying,
03:38 we can't get through, or I can't get through.
03:42 Is there one back you look at and you say,
03:44 that's who I want to play, that's who I want to be?
03:46 Like--
03:48 Throwback, somebody that you admire,
03:50 somebody that you look at and say,
03:52 that's the kind of running back I want to be.
03:55 I'll say like Saquon, or like Josh Jacobs, something
03:59 like that.
04:01 Those are the guys that you look at and say,
04:03 I want to run their style?
04:04 Yeah.
04:05 You ever look at guys like the Kansas
04:07 has had, the Kansas State in the back, smaller guys,
04:10 like Deuce Vaughn, people like that,
04:11 have you paid attention to what they did
04:13 and how effective they were?
04:15 Yeah, I paid attention to it.
04:16 Like, me and Deuce Vaughn, we got the same,
04:19 you know what I'm saying, the shortness or whatever.
04:22 But like, and we get slept on.
04:24 But me comparing to him, it's like, we doing the same thing.
04:28 So we just trying to, you know what I'm saying,
04:30 show what we can do to the world.
04:32 His more about size than his running style.
04:34 Yeah.
04:35 Yeah.
04:36 Gene, were you aware that body language was something
04:38 you could be critiqued on?
04:40 Say it again.
04:40 Are you aware the body language was something
04:42 that you could be coached on and critiqued on?
04:45 I mean, it wasn't really that.
04:46 It was just like, it's always been like that for me.
04:50 I don't know why, but I mean, it's something that I worked on
04:53 and improved on.
04:54 What was it?
04:55 Were you just like, I don't know,
04:56 bad mood, chipping your shoulder, walking around?
04:58 Or like, what are they talking about there?
05:01 Slow walking or like, I don't know, like lack of urgency,
05:05 for real.
05:06 Have any of my other coaches in the past
05:08 also come up to you and be like, hey, what's going on?
05:10 You all right?
05:11 Just by the way your demeanor is?
05:12 Yeah.
05:13 Yeah, it's not the first time that I've been like that.
05:16 Did you maybe communicate with Neil in the past
05:18 that, hey, I don't mean anything by this vibe?
05:20 Yeah, yeah, yep.
05:21 OK.
05:22 I imagine you can handle it, people, so you're short,
05:24 but not that you're small.
05:25 I mean, when people tell me that,
05:32 I don't really get into it.
05:34 I just like, I don't know.
05:37 I just don't like to get into it.
05:39 It don't matter about the size.
05:41 I guess you feel tall when you get in the end zone.
05:44 Yeah.
05:46 There was a camp here in, what, '21, I think.
05:49 You had a really good day, and there
05:51 was a clip that went viral, right,
05:53 about your performance that day.
05:54 And if I remember correctly, you got a lot of attention out
05:57 of that camp, right?
05:58 Oh, yeah, yeah.
05:59 So that changed things for you, because I think you still
06:01 ended up with one power five, right?
06:02 Yeah, it changed a lot, but at the same time, it didn't.
06:06 Because after that camp Coach Scott offered me,
06:11 I already knew where I wanted to go.
06:13 I already knew what I wanted to do, where I wanted to be.
06:16 So it wasn't until--
06:20 Were all your eggs in one basket on that one?
06:22 You had to have a good day that day?
06:23 Yeah, yeah.
06:25 Good job.
06:26 I think.
06:27 Did you know during the day or before Chad finds you
06:31 or talks to you, do you have an idea, walk out the field,
06:33 that, yeah, I nailed it.
06:35 This is what I was supposed to do?
06:36 Yeah, yeah.
06:37 I felt like I had a very good camp.
06:39 It was a little things.
06:42 I think my 40, I don't know.
06:44 I think I felt like I ran slow.
06:45 But other than that, everything else was good.
06:48 I'm sure you had preconceived notions of what
06:51 it was going to be like to be a college football player
06:54 and go through a season.
06:55 Has it been harder than you thought?
06:57 And if so, how?
07:00 No, I don't think it's been harder.
07:04 Has it been harder?
07:06 You're from York, Pennsylvania?
07:09 I'm originally from Miami, but I played my high school years
07:12 in York.
07:13 I was going to ask, because that's Penn State country,
07:15 isn't it?
07:16 Yeah.
07:16 Yeah.
07:17 What was it like for the first game of this year there?
07:21 It was a very crazy crowd.
07:24 But I've been there before.
07:25 I've been to Penn State games, so I already
07:28 know what's there.
07:32 And then I didn't play.
07:33 So me just sitting there, I'm already
07:35 knowing how I feel to be in there.
07:38 You said it wasn't harder, but is there
07:40 anything that's caught you off guard?
07:41 Or is there things that you're like, oh, wow,
07:43 I didn't realize that it's something
07:45 I need to work on in my game?
07:47 To be honest, no, not really.
07:50 So everything you thought is pretty much how it's come out?
07:53 Yeah, how it's going, yeah.
07:56 As a newcomer to college football,
07:58 what's it been like running behind an offensive line that's
08:01 a bunch of veterans?
08:02 You've got a lot of guys up front with a lot of starts.
08:06 It feels good, actually.
08:07 Like in high school, I didn't really
08:09 have a line, a real special line.
08:13 But now in college, running behind Zach, Wyatt, and all
08:17 them, that's a great, big accomplishment for me.
08:21 And I don't know.
08:25 Yeah.
08:28 Jaheem, you said you were born in Miami.
08:30 When did you move to York?
08:31 2017.
08:32 OK.
08:33 So your parents' jobs, what brought them
08:36 to that area, or brought you there?
08:38 My mom and my auntie, my grandma, they grew up up there.
08:45 And then it was like a back and forth to Miami to York
08:49 situation.
08:50 So yeah.
08:51 Was that tough for a kid?
08:52 So you're 12, 13, 14?
08:55 I don't know.
08:55 So difficult to pick up from an area you grew up in
08:58 and move to a whole different place?
09:00 Yeah, it was real tough.
09:01 I had a little family up there.
09:04 I only had one cousin up there.
09:05 But that was the only person I was around.
09:08 It was hard going to school and all that,
09:11 like meeting new people.
09:13 But you know what I'm saying?
09:15 So 2017 would be six years up here.
09:19 Are you used to the winters?
09:20 Or I see you got the big coat.
09:22 No, I ain't used to it still.
09:23 January would be probably the toughest for you, right?
09:25 Yeah, I'd still be walking around with jackets on, cold.
09:29 Did sports help you become ingrained in high school?
09:34 I mean, make the transition.
09:36 You're the new kid.
09:37 But did sports quickly help you make those friendships?
09:42 Yeah.
09:42 Yeah.
09:43 Little League, 2017, when I first came,
09:47 I played running back, little quarterback, or whatever.
09:51 And I was just the person they never saw before.
09:56 So it was just like, yeah, it was great.
10:00 What drew you to West Virginia?
10:03 Say it again?
10:03 What drew you here?
10:06 I'll say the coaching staff, the environment, the teammates.
10:10 I know you and Rodney kind of got close
10:17 once you both were leaning towards coming to WVU.
10:19 But either him or who are your real close friends on the team,
10:24 like your best friends on the team?
10:27 I mean, my whole freshman class, for real, we all close.
10:33 Yeah, whole freshman class.
10:36 It was probably a good thing moving up here, I guess,
10:38 because you can get lost down there in Florida
10:40 with all the talent that's down there,
10:42 especially if you don't have the big physical things that they
10:46 look for.
10:47 Do you feel like it was good for you to come?
10:50 Yeah, at first I didn't, because I
10:53 didn't want to leave Miami.
10:55 So at first it was definitely hard.
10:57 But when I came up and I got comfortable,
11:00 I started to see my ways and my paths.
11:03 Where I was going, I was just like, OK, this is what it is.
11:07 All right, thank you very much.