Submitted photo Former WVU running back Noel Devine is set to return to Morgantown as a part of the football coaching staff.

MORGANTOWN — While there is a new age edge to the feeling around West Virginia football now that a couple of weeks have rolled by since Rich Rodriguez was hired to bring the program back to prominence, there is also a twinge of nostalgia involved with it because it is obvious that the Mountaineers are trying to take two steps forward by taking one step back.

In normal circumstances, the hiring of an analyst doesn’t often make a public relations splash, but Rodriguez has managed to dive into those waters with a cannonball of a splash by bringing Noel Devine in as an offensive analyst and assistant backfield coach.

While it doesn’t carry quite the same weight as if he had added Pat White to his staff, something that most Mountaineer fans of voting age seemed to expect, the hiring of Devine screams out that Rodriguez intends — and well may be able to accomplish — to revive past glories.

In an era where college football is rediscovering the value of running the football, as it proved in the days of White and Steve Slaton and Devine and Quincy Wilson and Owen Schmitt and Avon Cobourne and Amos Zereoue, Rodriguez comes with an offensive playbook he created that should carry the subtitle “How to Win Football Games With a Hardnosed Ground Attack.”

And Devine figures to be a big part of that, just as he was when he arrived on the scene in Morgantown in 2007 as the last 5-star recruit to select to play at WVU.

His arrival was heralded as few others and as if to prove that it wasn’t fiction, it came complete with a high school highlight tape that would have won a Golden Globe Award if it had been entered. He is part human, part video game running back and shows off moves that are seen only in Tavon Austin’s high school highlight reel.

This wasn’t Herschel Walker, Earl Campbell or Bo Jackson. It was more Barry Sanders, standing just 5-foot-8 and weighing 180 pounds.

And Devine wasn’t one to make after-hour headlines, but instead a good citizen who you enjoyed rooting for.

His freshman year was 2007 and he rushed for 627 yards, which may not sound like much but he did it on 73 carries, which by old math or new averages out 8.7 yards per carry.

And that 2007 team had White, Slaton and Schmitt in the backfield eating up most of the yardage.

By the time Devine played out his four-year career at WVU only Cobourne and Pat White had more than his 4,315 career rushing yards.

He was gifted with speed and balance, evidenced in all of the highlight reels available, one run in particular out of high school, though, had him start off sweeping right, getting pinned in on the right sideline, reversing field to the left while giving up 15 or so yards to the line of scrimmage, wiggling free then heading back to the right and breaking loose down the right sideline for the score.

If Zereoue’s and Wilson’s power made their success, if Slaton’s speed and vision made his, if Cobourne’s durability led to his greatest moments and White’s elusiveness and almost ballet-like ability to move effortlessly down the field, Devine had something else.

You could almost taste how much he wanted it as he went through tackles, made sharp cuts, found holes and then headed downfield with a posse of defenders in pursuit.

Devine understood what it took to make a running back great and he has spent much of his time since playing here teaching it to his kids and other kids who came to his speed and running camps, while at the same time itching to get back to Morgantown.

Now, Rodriguez offers that up and with Chad Scott back as running back coach makes a dynamic duo who can take Rodriguez power spread theories and make them work …. and could there be a better pupil than Jahiem White.

There is no telling what kinds of influence Devine might be upon White, who is similar in size at 5-7 and 190 and in the ability to evade tacklers.

With CJ Donaldson gone, Rodriguez well may lean heavily upon White in his running game and if he tailors the offense to White’s skills and if White can get the expected Devine guidance one might imagine him jumping from the 842 and 844 rushing yards while splitting time in the backfield to 1,300 or more as the featured back.

No one can be sure just what the quarterback situation will be for Rodriguez, either. With Nicco Marchiol, a fan favorite as are all those who back up starters at the position, returning and seemingly ready to take the job, Rodriguez has a capable player to count on.

But just a day ago Texas A&M quarterback Jaylen Henderson announced that he was transferring his 6-foot-3, 220-pound body as a dual threat QB to WVU.

Like Marchiol, Henderson is a left-handed quarterback, but can we also note that Pat White, too, was a southpaw.

Henderson started his career at Fresno State for two year, spent 2023 playing at Texas A&M where in five games he completed 53-of-78 pass attempts for 715 yards and six touchdowns with a pair of interceptions while running r1 times for 104 yards and two scores.

Henderson did not play last year, however, and is something of a mystery therefore, but he has two years of eligibility and his presence sets up an interesting spring where Rodriguez will weigh him against Marchiol in trying to figure out who runs his offense best.

Either way, Rodriguez figures to have the makings of what he wants in his backfield but is looking at having to rebuild what had been a solid offensive line.