MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- A new head coach. A new offensive coordinator. A new offensive terminology and outlook. And no Steve Slaton, sharing his living space or his shotgun backfield.

So much around Patrick White has altered dramatically, shifted tectonically, except this:

"It's still football," he said.

West Virginia's celebrated quarterback has spent the past three falls confirming that he's accomplished at this game. A 26-4 record, with half of those losses coming last year in games he left because of injury. A mere 115 yards from Marc Bulger's school record for total offense. About 784 yards from the NCAA rushing record for quarterbacks held by Brad Smith of Missouri. One postseason victory shy of becoming the first collegiate quarterback to win four January bowls.

Now, starting with the season opener Saturday against Villanova, he comes to pass.

Not all the time. Just more than before. More to truly make the Mountaineers' a spread offense. More to drive home a personal point and conjure up team points.

"They always said we were going to throw the ball more each of the last couple of years," said Nate Sowers, a former meeting and practice compatriot at quarterback who now faces White and the offense daily as a backup safety. "This year, I think we really will. Oh yeah, this will be a good year for him. It'll be a great test."

Remove 7,903 yards of offense around him, in the form of Slaton, Darius Reynaud and Owen Schmitt the past three years rushing and receiving. Replace demanding Rich Rodriguez with folksy Bill Stewart, who earlier was White's quarterback coach. Replace Calvin Magee with Jeff Mullen. Replace a familiar playbook with what Mullen calls new "words and terms and names." Then ask a Heisman Trophy candidate and two-time Big East offensive player of the year to spray throws across more of the field and run a shade less often. That's a heaping pile of change.

"Absolutely. Absolutely," Mullen said. "I constantly fret and worry that we're putting too much on [White and the offensive players]. The hard part is ... the guys' got to run a new system, and it isn't their choice, and it isn't my choice. I came into the situation realizing not only Pat, but the entire group had been very successful, and now they have to learn something new."

White merely did the same as ever in his four previous years in the West Virginia hills, far from his Gulf Coast roots in Daphne, Ala. He shrugged. He went to work.

It was his suggestion to Stewart that Dorrell Jalloh could double at slotback after spending summer workouts there, enabling the staff to move slotback Brandon Hogan to cornerback. It was his downfield passing, his deep throwing, his mechanics that improved over time to transform his left-handed heaves into lock-tight spirals. It became his offense, all over again.

"I think his confidence level is very high, especially throwing the football," said left guard Greg Isdaner. "To me, Pat's the most versatile quarterback in the country. We're a top team without him. We're a Top-5 team with him."

If this motion, pass-tweaked offense means less running for White -- who carried 15 and 13.75 times per game on average each of the past two seasons -- "I'll be a lot less sore after games. I'm sure my body's happy."

"He likes it," little brother Coley White, a freshman and the Mountaineers' fourth-team quarterback, said of the offense. "He likes it a lot. Gets to spread the ball around. Gives him a chance to throw, not just running, running."

For all his plaudits, for his 2008 Playboy All-America status, for the newfound Web site to pump up his Heisman chances (PatWhiteplayshere.com), White remains the same as ever. "Let it go in one ear and out the other. I try not to read if it's about me."

"None of the hype goes to his head," Sowers said. "I think the world of him. He's a great guy, a great leader."

Mullen continued: "A lot of people talk about Patrick the player, Patrick the good kid. I mean, the guy is a very, very intelligent player. He picks up things so fast. He's a very sharp kid. A very sharp kid. I don't think enough is said about that."

With sophomores Noel Devine at tailback and Jock Sanders at slotback, with sophomore Will Johnson and freshman Tyler Urban of Norwin High School at tight end, with a first-year receiver in Alric Arnett, with a remodeled playbook, White, 6 feet 1, 192 pounds, is embedded among new growth.

"I think he's adapted well to it," little brother Coley said. "I guess we'll have to see Saturday how well."

And his final dozen Mountaineers games thereafter.

Touchdowns rushing.....39