WVU's White on a Record Pace
October 20, 2014 02:29 PM | General
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| Kevin White |
He’s the first guy in the country to reach 1,000 yards receiving this year while averaging 145.7 yards, 9.8 receptions and one touchdown catch per game.
He’s also working on a streak of seven straight 100-yard receiving performances following last Saturday’s eight-catch, 132-yard, two-TD effort in West Virginia’s 41-27 victory over fourth-ranked Baylor.
Plus, he’s had at least one touchdown catch in five straight games, but the stat that truly measures how dominant he’s become this year doesn’t even show up on the stat sheet – pass interference penalties caused.
In last week’s game, Baylor defensive backs were penalized six times trying to defend White – five that were accepted and the one that was declined during his highlight-reel-like, one-handed, 12-yard touchdown grab in the fourth quarter that put the Mountaineers back in the lead.
Believe it or not, White has already drawn 11 pass interference penalties (nine accepted and two declined) with at least one called in five of the seven games West Virginia has played this year.
Now that’s just downright ridiculous.
If you add the 15 yards from those nine penalties to his receiving yardage total you’re looking at more than 1,100 yards that West Virginia has managed to gain through the air by throwing the ball to White – oftentimes on simple vertical routes.
“If you don’t have receivers that can go vertically it makes it hard,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “We are going to take shots and we need to capitalize on them.”
Holgorsen has a reputation for developing all-star talent at wide receiver, and his latest creation is producing yardage at a similar rate as some of his best ones.
If White keeps catching passes at his current pace he is going to finish a 12-game regular season with 118 catches for 1,748 yards and 12 touchdowns. That puts him in Stedman Bailey (114 catches, 1,622 yards and 25 touchdowns for West Virginia in 2012) and Justin Blackmon (111 catches, 1,782 yards and 20 touchdowns for Oklahoma State in 2010) territory.
But if you project White’s numbers through 13 games (which would include a bowl game if the Mountaineers can get one more victory), the number swells to 127 catches for 1,894 yards and 13 touchdowns.
That gets him into Michael Crabtree territory (134 catches for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns for Texas Tech in 2007). Keep in mind: Crabtree and Blackmon were consensus All-Americans and Biletnikoff Award winners as college football’s No. 1 receivers.
“He’s doing what some of the best ones I’ve seen (did),” said Holgorsen following last Saturday’s game. “I thought (Baylor receiver Antwan) Goodley was a great player and I think Kevin has improved to the point where he’s in that discussion now.”
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| Wes Welker 2000-03 Texas Tech |
Michael Crabtree 2007-08 Texas Tech |
Justin Blackmon 2009-11 Oklahoma State |
Tavon Austin 2009-12 West Virginia |
Stedman Bailey 2010-12 West Virginia |
Kevin White 2013-present West Virginia |
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Improve is clearly the operative word here when it comes to White. Last year, he was almost a non-factor by catching a very pedestrian 35 passes for 507 yards and five touchdowns. Credit White for working hard to improve his all-around game and also credit Holgorsen for getting it out of him.
“He keeps getting better and I think his best football is ahead of him,” noted Holgorsen.
If that’s the case then things could get really interesting around here. Could we see our first 2,000-yard receiver in school history? Could White challenge Nevada receiver Trevor Insley’s NCAA record of 2,060 yards receiving established in 1999?
He just might if teams keep playing man coverage on him and don’t interfere with him five, six times per game like Baylor did last Saturday afternoon.
White admits his eyes get a little bigger whenever he sees one-on-one coverage these days.
“Man-up,” he says. “Is he better than me or am I better than him? I kind of take it personal. I try to win every matchup I can and try and do my best to make a play on the ball.”
Those are confident words coming from a very confident football player who is now producing on a weekly basis, as evidenced by his aforementioned streak of 100-yard games.
“It’s a great stat but as long as we get the victory and everyone is healthy I’m fine,” he explained.
West Virginia is back in the national rankings for the first time in two years in large part because of White’s tremendous production in the passing game. During the Baylor game, some national college football experts were debating on Twitter whether or not they would trade White for Stedman Bailey or Tavon Austin – both playing in the NFL right now for the St. Louis Rams.
That’s a hard call, for sure, because both were tremendously productive college players. However, the real comparison may not be those two but instead Chris Henry.
The late Henry is the guy White most closely resembles physically, and Henry, like White, had the physical traits to take over a football game no matter what defenses tried to do to stop him.
When things are not going smoothly on offense, there are times when all West Virginia has to do is put White on one side of the field and throw the ball up in the air and let him use his 6-foot-3-inch, 210-pound frame to get it.
That’s a nice luxury to have.
Just call it Slot Left, Split Right, 26, Lob it to White on two.
Then run it again, and again and again - even if the other guys keep interfering him. If they do decide to gang up on him and take him completely out of the offense then West Virginia can just throw it to Mario Alford on the other side.
He’s got 38 catches for 464 yards and five touchdowns. If that doesn’t work, then they can go to a ground game with five different backs that have combined to average four yards per rush and have scored 13 touchdowns.
Pick your poison.
