By Bill Nestor
The 2024 Gold and Blue Spring Game is in the books and from all indications, it was as successful as possible. The event brought back more big names, brought in big numbers, and, most importantly, those that matter the most were present and accounted for this past Saturday.
The weather was perfect in Morgantown, tempting students that were trying to prepare for upcoming finals. ESPN + televised the event, which is always great for national exposure, but can sometimes slow the attendance. However, the combination of last year’s strong campaign, the impressive returning nucleus, the infusion of yet-to-be-seen young talent, and the returning alumni brought the fans in droves. An outstanding 18,540 fans were in attendance, showing the success of the day’s event and the excitement for the impending season.
Morgantown native Huey Mack (the 32 year old rapper) started the festivities with a free concert in the morning. It’s nothing like John Denver’s version, but Mack has one of his own. There is nothing like a little “Country Roads” in the early hours to get a day going properly. Once Huey got the fan base properly lubed up, the gates to Milan Puskar Stadium opened at 11 AM and football related events began.
The controlled scrimmage brought back a pair of Mountaineer legends to serve as honorary coaches. The two most recognizable “Pats” to ever don pads at West Virginia University were back together again, but this time on opposing sidelines. Pat White and Pat McAfee played together at WVU from 2005 to 2008 (White also played in Morgantown in 2004.) During their time together, White and McAfee won 42 games, including bowl victories in the Sugar, Fiesta, and Meineke.
White is currently an offensive assistant coach for the Los Angeles Chargers. White and Major Harris are considered to be the top two quarterbacks in Mountaineer history. McAfee was a punter and kicker at West Virginia. He scored 384 points (210 of 212 on career extra point attempts) making him the all-time leading scorer in program history. He is currently one of the biggest names in sports and in Oct 2023, McAfee signed a five-year $85 million contract with ESPN.
Don’t worry, the Pats didn’t have to work too hard as the event included more drills, competitions, and fan involvement than actual game play. As a matter of fact, a controlled scrimmage was utilized to minimize the opportunity for injury. The signal callers were dressed in white (different colors to signify hands-off to teammates) for protective purposes. This allowed fans to catch a free glimpse of Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol.
Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen was in attendance and was acknowledged, receiving a big round of rightful applause. Nehlen has been a consistent presence for this program ever since his coaching days that ranged from 1980 to 2000. His 202 wins ranks him 17th on the all time list for victories in collegiate football.
Mountaineer Nation caught a peek of the new uniforms that were unveiled after the first period of play. New fans can fantasize in detail about their favorite players making big plays with the appropriate uniforms. Halftime brought several award winners to the forefront. Avery Wilcox was named the Tom Nickolich Award Winner, given to the top walk-on player. The Iron Mountaineers (top weight room performers) were Austin Brinkman, Preston Fox, Garrett Greene, Sean Martin, and Wyatt Milum.
The best news of the day was brought by WVU head coach Neal Brown. Brown indicated that there were no losses to the transfer portal and that there could be some additions to the roster in May.
All is good in Morgantown this spring!
That will do it for now. Until next week, take care . . . and God Bless!