West Virginia has spent years searching for a backfield that can make people lean forward in their seats the way Pat White and Steve Slaton once did. Rich Rodriguez just poured gasoline on that conversation.
On Wednesday, Rodriguez was asked whether there are any similarities between Mike Hawkins and Cam Cook and the old White-Slaton pairing. He didn’t duck it.
“Obviously Pat came and redshirted a year, so he had a year to learn before he played, and Stevie was a true freshman, and he was just a freaky speed guy. He was so fast that once he learned it, he was going to go.
Those guys were probably the two fastest guys on the team. Mike is probably one of the fastest, and Cam can run, but the best thing about Cam is he has a great feel for the position.
Whether it’s pass protection, running routes, where he’s supposed to press on the hole, and all that kind of stuff. He’s an experienced football player, but he’s a ‘rookie’ in our system, and so is Mike.
They have not played a game for West Virginia yet, so I’ve got to remind myself that they’ve got some experience at this level, but they haven’t played for West Virginia yet. But we’re going to force-feed them because I think both of those guys are good players.”
That last part is the money line. Rodriguez is not just acknowledging Hawkins and Cook - he’s telling you they’re going to be central to everything West Virginia does.
And there’s a reason the buzz keeps building. The staff has been high on Hawkins for months, and this latest comment only sharpens that picture. In Rodriguez’s view, the pair are still learning the system, but the talent is obvious enough that the staff is going to keep feeding them until they’re fully up to speed.
The comparison to White and Slaton is obviously a heavy one. It’s been 19 years since they lined up together, and West Virginia hasn’t really had that same kind of rushing punch since.
Noel Devine had elite production during his time as the starting running back, and his one season with White was special, but the 2008 season overall fell short. After that came the Air Raid years under Dana Holgorsen, and while he ran the ball more than most coaches from the Hal Mumme tree, it still didn’t resemble the identity of those early-2000s Rodriguez teams.
Neal Brown had his own success on the ground with Leddie Brown, CJ Donaldson, Jahiem White and quarterback Garrett Greene, but the Mountaineers never quite turned that into something bigger.
Now the hope is that Hawkins and Cook can be the duo that changes that. It’s fair to say the expectations are building fast, even if the timeline stretches beyond this season. Cook can return in 2027 now that everyone gets a fifth year of eligibility, and if he passes on the NFL and comes back for another year in Morgantown, the bar for that team would be sky-high.
For now, though, the message from Rodriguez is simple: the Mountaineers believe they have two players who can matter right away, and they’re going to build around them. They still have to prove it on the field, but West Virginia fans have plenty of reason to feel good about where this could be headed.
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The bigger conversation, though, comes from the Big 12s agreement with Monster Energy, which puts large, black-background patches on every member schools uniforms. It is the kind of addition that immediately splits opinion because it is impossible to ignore, and for West Virginia supporters already wary of corporate branding creeping onto the field, the visual impact is only part of the issue. [Read more 🡒]
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Cyrus Traugh Is Giving West Virginia Fans A Reason To Watch Closely
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Traugh finished the 2024 season as the teams second-leading receiver, and the expectation now is that he will see significant playing time this fall alongside the rest of the wideout rotation. Even with 2026 viewed as the bigger window for him to become a key part of the group, the way he has progressed already gives West Virginia something useful on offense to keep tracking. [Read more 🡒]