Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 We have running back Jaheim White.
00:02 Questions for Jaheim, Rick.
00:04 So, Jaheim, second half of the season for you,
00:06 I know you battled a couple injuries early,
00:08 but you caught fire the second half.
00:10 Just starting to figure things out,
00:12 what was the difference for you individually
00:16 from earlier to later?
00:18 I mean, I only had one issue, and that was my practice,
00:21 the way I practiced.
00:23 I just changed the way I practiced,
00:25 and it led up on the field.
00:29 Did that carry over to games
00:30 when you started to practice better?
00:32 Did you feel you played better in games?
00:36 You get a sense that with the nucleus
00:38 you've got coming back that there's something special
00:41 kind of building here between you and Garrett and Rodney
00:46 and all the different guys that are young but together.
00:50 You get a sense that there's something building here?
00:53 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:54 Me, Rodney, Trey Lonray,
00:56 then we got our 24 class that's coming in,
01:00 which we got a nice little crew coming.
01:04 So, yeah, that's going to give us big help.
01:09 Toughest adjustment for you, you mentioned practice,
01:11 but game speed, what was the toughest adjustment
01:14 from high school to college,
01:16 things that you saw differently?
01:18 Outside football?
01:19 No, no, just start with on the field.
01:21 We'll go off the field in a bit,
01:22 but did you start to see things differently?
01:25 No.
01:27 I mean, like, high school and college are two different,
01:31 you know, football -- well, not football.
01:33 College football, they move a lot faster to the ball.
01:35 High school, you know, is like high school.
01:40 They're not really, you know, trying to make plays.
01:43 Did you ever surprise yourself
01:49 with the success you were having later in the year?
01:52 No. No?
01:55 You always have that confidence?
01:56 Yes, sir.
01:58 Bowl game, how important is this for this team?
02:09 Oh, it's very important.
02:11 This is our first time to get to nine wins
02:13 in, like, what, a couple years,
02:15 so this is going to be a big deal.
02:19 We're very excited to be out there
02:20 and play against North Carolina at North Carolina.
02:23 I think that's a very -- it's very hard,
02:26 like, a big deal for a pro
02:28 because, like, playing NC at NC is crazy.
02:31 Mm-hmm.
02:34 When you were little, did you follow the Orange Bowl,
02:37 or was there any bowl games that you kind of watched
02:41 and was like, "Yeah, this is cool.
02:42 I'd like to do this one day"?
02:43 No, growing up, I didn't really watch football.
02:45 I just watched -- Yeah, I didn't watch.
02:47 I just watched individual players.
02:50 Yeah.
02:53 When you watch film of yourself, do you --
02:56 It's like, "Did I really do that?"
02:58 Yeah.
02:59 What's it like to see yourself doing it?
03:02 We know what it's like to watch the --
03:04 Yeah, I mean, like, I be having this weird feeling inside,
03:08 like, that's like I'm really doing this,
03:11 you know, on a college level.
03:13 Everybody, like -- I was underrated,
03:15 you know, doubted and all that growing up,
03:18 so me seeing myself doing this in college
03:22 is a very --
03:25 You're underrated.
03:27 I mean, nobody ever tackled you in high school.
03:28 I mean --
03:31 I don't know.
03:32 They just -- My height, that's really all it is,
03:36 was my height.
03:37 That's what everybody doubted me on.
03:40 Everything else was --
03:41 That's a good football area.
03:42 Yeah.
03:45 Jay, who'd you watch?
03:47 Barry Sanders, Marshawn Lynch, Josh Jacobs.
03:54 That's two very different guys.
03:55 You studied both of them.
03:56 I always had the beast mode mentality,
03:59 but, like, you know, played like Barry.
04:02 You watched like two clips of Barry?
04:04 Because he retired, you were really --
04:06 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:08 We'd been playing while you were growing up.
04:11 Are you aware of the history here
04:14 of having smaller, explosive-type running backs?
04:18 I even throw Tavon Austin in that category,
04:21 but guys like Amos Zerway and Avon Coler.
04:24 Has anybody ever mentioned those guys to you?
04:26 Have you heard about them at all?
04:27 No.
04:28 So you don't know anything about the history of that?
04:30 Only Tavon.
04:31 Only Tavon?
04:32 I guess those guys are a lot older, but --
04:35 You're watching Barry Sanders.
04:36 But you're watching Barry Sanders,
04:38 and Barry Sanders is a lot older than those guys.
04:40 Right.
04:41 So someplace along the line there.
04:44 Does being small almost help you as a back?
04:46 Do you sort of use that and hide behind your line and duck out?
04:50 Yeah, that's my biggest help right there,
04:52 getting behind my lineman.
04:54 You know, defense players, they can't see me behind,
04:57 you know, my big U line, so that's a great advantage.
05:01 What does it mean to you to have that offensive line?
05:04 I mean, obviously, Zach's going to the NFL,
05:06 trying to get the NFL, but, I mean,
05:07 most of that O-line is going to be coming back.
05:09 It looks like the starters are kind of going to be back.
05:11 What does that mean to you to have that chemistry
05:15 already built, whereas this year you had to build it
05:17 because you were new to the team?
05:20 I mean, that's a -- I mean, next year is going to be crazy
05:24 with the O-line that we got right now,
05:25 and, like, even, you know, like, Johnny Williams
05:28 and, like, Nick and all them,
05:31 like, they're really putting in work
05:33 for to get on the field next year.
05:35 So that's going to be a ball game.
05:39 Maybe easier on you as a runner, I'd imagine.
05:41 Like, you're not going to have to tell somebody,
05:43 "Hey, I like to do this."
05:45 They're going to already kind of know,
05:46 even if they weren't a starter this year,
05:47 they were on the team. Yeah.
05:51 Jaheim, what was it -- you talk about being underrated
05:53 out of high school.
05:54 How good does it feel, then, to get this chance
05:56 and, you know, prove West Virginia right
05:58 and prove yourself right?
06:01 I mean, I don't really, like --
06:03 like, personally, I don't really look at it like --
06:06 I don't really care for it because, you know, I'm just --
06:09 like, I'm working with a chip on my shoulder,
06:10 so I'm just trying to make everything better for myself.
06:14 You know?
06:16 You mentioned --
06:20 What's your favorite run for yours this year,
06:21 like, if you're going to throw on Jaheim White tapes, right?
06:23 Like, a highlight. Is there one that stands out?
06:26 I mean, I got -- I got, like, four highlight tapes,
06:29 like, all through my high school.
06:31 So I'll say, if anybody will watch my highlights,
06:34 watch my junior year.
06:37 I think that was my best year.
06:38 But my senior year, that was, like --
06:40 my senior year was crazy.
06:43 What about this year?
06:46 I feel like this year, I didn't --
06:48 like, I did a lot, but I didn't do enough
06:50 because I only played the second half of the season.
06:53 So getting, like, you know, the full season,
06:58 then next -- well, next year, yeah, definitely, for sure.
07:02 Can I ask you about the touchdown catch?
07:03 Baber, you score, and you were just kind of like,
07:08 "Yeah, I've done this before. I'm going to do this some more.
07:10 I don't have to go out and celebrate like a lot of guys do."
07:14 Where does that come from?
07:17 My humble -- my humbleness.
07:19 You know, just putting in the work for real.
07:21 Like, I don't look at nothing else.
07:24 I just be trying to get everything better for myself,
07:26 for my family and all that, you know?
07:27 So me just going out there and playing ball,
07:29 I don't really have no feeling.
07:31 That's just what I love to do.
07:32 Was there, like, a high school coach or somebody that said,
07:34 "Hey, just go about your business, do your job,
07:37 and all this stuff will come. You don't have to --"
07:40 You know what I mean? Did anybody ever tell you that?
07:42 That was always my mental -- my mentality, anyways.
07:45 Like, I always had the same mentality
07:47 growing up playing football.
07:49 Yeah.
07:50 Did it seem like a river for that ball to get to you?
07:54 A little bit. Yeah, a little bit.
07:57 Had a little hang time.
07:59 You like that wheel route, don't you?
08:01 Yeah.
08:06 - Okay, anything else?
08:08 Thank you very much. - Thank you.