MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The ice packs soothe the right shoulder of Jarrett Brown and the left elbow of Nate Sowers, reminders of their hastened battle for the wide-open job as backup to West Virginia quarterback Pat White.

As White nursed a slightly pulled abdomen muscle, Brown and Sowers shared the load of throwing the football for a few days of practice this week, and that left the redshirt freshmen aching as well.

Welcome to the cyclone of hurry-up-and-learn fall practices.

"I think Jarrett and I are kind of hurting right now," Sowers said Thursday.

Don't get them wrong. The pair are glad to be in the main mix of the offense. Heck, a year ago they were stuck on the sidelines with uncertain futures on a team stacked with quarterbacks.

That all changed, first when third-stringer J.R. House left the team last December to return to a baseball career. Then backup Adam Bednarik was lost for the 2006 season after undergoing shoulder surgery in May, forcing coach Rich Rodriguez to tap Brown and Sowers.

White felt a pain in his side earlier this week and was held out of two days of practices.