Of the four late-preseason inquiries made by the NCAA’s eligibility center, the one aimed at Pat Miller’s academic status was the most concerning for the Mountaineers. Oh, sure, WVU didn’t want to lose Jerrard Hunter, who was eventually shown the door, or offensive lineman Pat Eger and doesn’t want to lose safety Jonathan Scott, who is still being held up by the process.

Miller, though, was going to play cornerback. This year. WVU needs players at cornerback. This year. He and Eger were cleared and while Eger is likely to redshirt, Miller played late in the second half against Liberty and did OK, up to and through the play where he was about to make a play on a corner route, only to see 6-foot-5 Robert Sands swoop in and catch the ball out of bounds.

And if the name Pat Miller sounds familiar, you watch too much MTV.

“You don’t want to be on the cameras looking bad,” he said.

Understand that means more to Miller than most anyone else. He played his high school ball for Hoover High, in Hoover, Ala. His freshman and sophomore years were documented and delivered by MTV’s “Two-A-Days,” a show that used unobstructed access to follow the Buccaneers throughout the seasons.

“It gets you ready for a lot of different things,” he said. “I was a lot better because of it. Someone was always watching. If someone messed up, it was on camera and you messed up on TV. It taught you consequences to the way you act, the way you practice, the way you play, the way you do anything.”