Published: June 19, 2008 12:03 am      

White is Unitas Award candidate

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University’s Patrick White was named Wednesday among 26 of the nation’s top senior quarterbacks who are candidates for the 2008 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

The prestigious honor is bestowed annually on the signal-caller considered the nation’s best signal-caller by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, for which Transamerica Insurance and Investment Group is the major corporate and presenting sponsor.

Considered by the selection committee is a candidate’s collegiate career to date as well as the off-the-field values of good character, citizenship, academic achievement and leadership qualities.

White, a 6-2, 185-pound native of Daphne, Ala., was a semi-finalist last year. He already has received numerous preseason honors, including a spot on the Playboy magazine All-America team.

A two-time WVU team Most Valuable Player, he led the Mountaineers to a 26-4 record as the starting quarterback, two Big East championships, three straight New Year’s bowl victories and three Top 10 finishes in succession.

White is one of only four quarterbacks in NCAA history to post major postseason wins in New Year’s events. He also is the only Mountaineer quarterback to lead his team to three 11-win seasons in a row.

Last season h completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 1,724 yards and 14 touchdowns and rushed for 1,335 yards and another 14 scores.

White is joined on the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm list by three other standouts from the Big East. Those are Hunter Cantwell of Louisville, Tyler Lorenzen of Connecticut and Mike Teel of Rutgers .

Rounding out the list of candidates are:

C.J.Bacher of Northwestern, Todd Boeckman of Ohio State, Rhett Bomar of Sam Houston Texas, Tom Brandstater of Fresno State, Rudy Carpenter of Arizona State, Chase Clement of Rice, Chase Daniel of Missouri,, Joe Ganz of Nebraska, Sean Glennon of Virginia Tech, Cullen Harper of Clemson, Graham Harrell of Texas Tech, Chase Holbrook of New Mexico State, Brian Hoyer of Michigan State, Will Hudgens of Memphis, Brian Johnson of Utah, Nate Longshore of California, Stephen McGee of Texas A & M, Ben Olson of UCLA, Curtis Painter of Purdue, John Parker Wilson of Alabama, Willi Tuitama of Arizona and Drew Willy of Buffalo.

The winner will be announced on Dec. 5 in Baltimore. Matt Ryan of Boston College was the 2007 award winner.