Rich Rodriguez recalls his first introduction to Pat McAfee at West Virginia

Today, Pat McAfee is one of the largest personalities on ESPN, appearing on shows like College GameDay. Before all of that, though, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez knew him as a young kicker.

Rodriguez looked back on his introduction to McAfee during an appearance on the College GameDay Podcast. There, he looked all the way back to when they were recruiting him, explaining that he has always been a unique athlete and player.

“Pat was, I believe, the first specialist that we ever put on scholarship before he enrolled,” Rodriguez said. “He was that good. But I can remember, they said, ‘Hey, you can come watch Pat kick. You can hear him kick.’ That’s what made the difference because there was a certain sound that came off his foot when he kicked the ball. It was a certain thump. So, I can remember walking up. I said, ‘What the heck?’ That was him kicking the ball.”

McAfee landed at West Virginia in 2005. That was the fifth season for Rich Rodriguez in his first tenure running the program. He’d earn the starting job as a kicker that season, which saw West Virginia win the Sugar Bowl.

“He was talented, obviously as a punter as a kicker — the best that’s ever played here. Had a great personality,” Rodriguez said. “But I do remember, I think I quit checking his curfew because I was afraid of what I’d find out. As long as you keep making kicks and punt the ball great, I won’t check your curfew, but we can’t have anybody getting arrested or anything like that. That would be a tough time.”

The 2007 season was one of the most eventful in West Virginia football history. It saw Rodriguez lead the Mountaineers to the Fiesta Bowl before leaving to become the head coach at Michigan. Along the way, however, West Virginia suffered an iconic loss in the Backyard Brawl. A 13-9 game, McAfee missed two short field goals that proved costly. Despite that, he’d be a Lou Groza finalist that season.

“I think it was him who asked me one time about our special teams playbook. I said, ‘It’s got two pages. Page one, make the damn kick. Page two, period. That’s it. I didn’t want to complicate things, but Pat — I was really proud of Pat, and people don’t realize how hard he works and that same work ethic here. One of the best things he was good at was obviously the kicks and the punts,” Rodriguez said. “But he could make those special kickoffs. The little pooch kick and all that. He was as good as anybody I’ve ever seen doing that too. That’s just work ethic. He worked on it all the time, but he’s doing well. Proud of him.”

In 2008, the pair parted ways, with McAfee finishing his college career in Morgantown while Rodriguez went on to Michigan. McAfee would have a good season both kicking and punting. He would later move on to the NFL and have a career as a punter before his media career took off. Since then, Rodriguez has had three separate head coaching jobs before making his return to West Virginia, which McAfee has been publicly supportive of on his shows.