Stronger Together: It's Not Jahiem White vs. CJ Donaldson

There's no competition or beef of any sort between West Virginia's backfield duo.

Schuyler Callihan | Aug 6, 2024

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West Virginia Mountaineers

There are so many occasions where fans or folks in the media get into a heated discussion when discussing who is "the guy" when there are two high-level players at one position. I'm guilty of it myself.

But the reality is, there doesn't have to be one option when it comes to running back. This isn't the same game from 20-30 years ago where you had a bell cow in the backfield, carrying the rock 30-35 times per game. In order to get through a full season, you need to have two, maybe three reliable backs to hand the ball off to. West Virginia has that in CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White.

When asked if there's any sort of competition between he and White, Donaldson responded, “Nah. We’re stronger together than divided. People always try to separate us…he’s the one, I’m the two or I’m the one, he’s the two. We’re stronger together. Speed and power.

“Jahiem, he’s like my little brother, man. Me and Jahiem grew up in the same neighborhood, so when he came in I definitely took him under my wing. And now he’s emerged to like where we’re basically co-partners in this running back room. The relationship with each other, it’s so special. We always laughing, we always playing. You always see us smiling with each other. He brings the energy when I don’t have it and when he don’t have it, I bring the energy to him.”

White grew up in Liberty City Miami and played against Donaldson in pop warner. He moved to York, Pennsylvania at the age of 12 and reunited with Donaldson at WVU just a few years later.

Head coach Neal Brown admitted last week that he felt he didn't do a good enough job of preparing Donaldson for his sophomore season mentally. Sophomore slumps are a real thing and although Donaldson still rushed for 798 yards and 11 touchdowns, it wasn't the year he or anyone expected. To help White avoid having a similar dip in production, Donaldson offered some advice.

“Just stick to the little things. Everyone gets caught up on this big picture of what’s going on, but the little things are going to lead you to the big things. So sticking to the little things will always get you to where you want to be at.”

If these two are able to stay healthy, West Virginia could have one of the best running back duos in the country. Running the football is this team's identity and where they finish in the Big 12 standings will be impacted by how successful they are on the ground.

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