Post by rainman on Aug 3, 2009 7:05:34 GMT -5
White signs deal with Dolphins
By Bob Hertzel
Times West Virginian
— Patrick White always had a million dollar disposition.
Now he’s got the cash to go along with it.
The former West Virginia quarterback, who is being groomed to play a big role as a rookie with the Miami Dolphins, signed his first professional contract on Saturday, a day before the Dolphins were to open training camp.
White signed a four-year deal worth about $4.5 million with $2.4 million of it guaranteed, an NFL source told the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post.
White was a second-round pick in this year’s NFL draft as one of the most intriguing players coming out of college. A record-setting running quarterback who had shown flashes of ability in the passing game, no one was sure where he would go in the draft.
Miami, which pioneered the “Wildcat” formation last year with running back Ronnie Brown running the variation of the single wing and shotgun formations, saw White as potentially the ideal man to run the offense.
The Dolphins knew they had to expand the passing aspect of the “Wildcat” and felt White, who had maintained he was a quarterback all along as many professional teams saw him as a wide receiver/kick returner, would be able to handle it.
White had problems in minicamp with his throwing, once actually hitting the golf cart in which legendary former coach Bill Parcells was sitting in to watch his team practice and another time hitting a goal post as he tried to throw out of the end zone.
The Dolphins, however, attributed his problems to those that many rookie quarterbacks have coming into their minicamps as they try to absorb the offense. They noted that he completed 64.6 percent of his passes in college, second in WVU history.
White had sold the Dolphins on his ability to throw on the NFL level with a 332-yard performance in this year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl as WVU defeated North Carolina, 31-30, and with a strong week at the Senior Bowl, topped off by winning the game’s offensive MVP award.
By Bob Hertzel
Times West Virginian
— Patrick White always had a million dollar disposition.
Now he’s got the cash to go along with it.
The former West Virginia quarterback, who is being groomed to play a big role as a rookie with the Miami Dolphins, signed his first professional contract on Saturday, a day before the Dolphins were to open training camp.
White signed a four-year deal worth about $4.5 million with $2.4 million of it guaranteed, an NFL source told the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post.
White was a second-round pick in this year’s NFL draft as one of the most intriguing players coming out of college. A record-setting running quarterback who had shown flashes of ability in the passing game, no one was sure where he would go in the draft.
Miami, which pioneered the “Wildcat” formation last year with running back Ronnie Brown running the variation of the single wing and shotgun formations, saw White as potentially the ideal man to run the offense.
The Dolphins knew they had to expand the passing aspect of the “Wildcat” and felt White, who had maintained he was a quarterback all along as many professional teams saw him as a wide receiver/kick returner, would be able to handle it.
White had problems in minicamp with his throwing, once actually hitting the golf cart in which legendary former coach Bill Parcells was sitting in to watch his team practice and another time hitting a goal post as he tried to throw out of the end zone.
The Dolphins, however, attributed his problems to those that many rookie quarterbacks have coming into their minicamps as they try to absorb the offense. They noted that he completed 64.6 percent of his passes in college, second in WVU history.
White had sold the Dolphins on his ability to throw on the NFL level with a 332-yard performance in this year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl as WVU defeated North Carolina, 31-30, and with a strong week at the Senior Bowl, topped off by winning the game’s offensive MVP award.
