White Eyes Final WVU Game on Monday
December 28, 2014 05:59 PM | General
| Kevin White answers questions during Saturday's AutoZone Liberty Bowl media session at Embassy Suites Hotel in Memphis. |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Lonnie Galloway remembers a meeting he had with Kevin White right before the beginning of spring practice last year.
The gist of that meeting was this … Kevin, you’re 6-foot-3 inches and you weigh 215 pounds, you need to start playing like you are 6-foot-3 inches and weigh 215 pounds. You can be a dominant college football player if you let yourself be.
“He dedicated himself with Coach (Mike) Joseph and the strength guys and went to work his second spring here,” WVU's wide receivers coach said Saturday afternoon. “He got stronger and faster and had a better feel for what we were trying to do offensively. The rest of it was him trusting us and him putting the work in to get where he’s gotten himself to.”
What White has become is one of the most dominant wide receivers in the country with an NFL future likely on the horizon. When you think about it, that’s truly amazing when you consider how far he has come in a year’s time.
“The thing I told Kevin all last year prior to this season was you can be your own worst enemy. You are either going to let yourself be great or you are going to keep underachieving,” said Galloway.
White’s 2013 season was OK for most receivers but substandard for what Dana Holgorsen’s No. 1 receivers are expected to accomplish: 35 catches for 507 yards and five touchdowns.
So Galloway challenged White to become a more consistent player – a challenge he accepted.
“In that meeting he was a lot more serious and I could tell that he meant business,” said White. “He asked if I wanted to be an average player or a great player and hopefully go to the next level. When he said that it kind of hit me a little bit. I took the offseason to a different level.”
White admits a lot of the issues he had earlier in his career were simply a matter of not being assertive enough.
“Coming in I didn’t really know what to expect. I was a new guy. Being in the weight room or if we were running I didn’t want to be the first guy and I didn’t want to out-do anyone,” he said. “After the season was over I just gave it my all – 110 percent – so I feel like the work I put in during the offseason is paying off.”
It sure did.
White in 2014 ranked among the nation’s leaders in receptions (102), yards (1,318) and touchdown catches (nine). He still has a shot of matching the school single season record of 114 catches shared by Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey with a great game on Monday afternoon against Texas A&M in the 2014 AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
White also expects to match the duo’s other significant accomplishment – reaching the NFL. Some have already begun comparing him to All-Pro wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. White appreciates the comparison, but he doesn’t believe his achievements on the football field are comparable to Fitzgerald’s – yet.
“I haven’t done nearly what he has accomplished but he’s one of my favorite receivers and he’s one of the guys I look up to,” said White. “I try and mimic his game a little bit.”
That means becoming the physical, dominant receiver Fitzgerald was known for during his college days at Pitt and now in the pros with the Cardinals.
“Sometimes I may dance too much or be like a little prima donna thing not wanting to get touched, but sometimes I have to get rough and do certain things,” said White. “(Galloway) just wanted me to kind of use my body and my size on defenders instead of acting like I’m a little receiver.”
Galloway said he made it a point throughout the season to show White the ways he has improved as a wide receiver, from the techniques that he uses to his approach and preparation for each game.
“He’s noticed the difference in the way he’s attacking the football, the way he’s running routes, being able to get in and out of breaks and those types of things,” said Galloway.
Holgorsen has a long history of developing elite college wide receivers and sending them into the pros, including Austin and Bailey most recently here at West Virginia. White expects his name to be added to that list.
“I think I’m somewhere in the mix,” he smiled.
“He likes to look at the pro players,” Galloway added. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘Kevin, you can’t do that. They’re in the pros and you can’t do that right now. We need to work on this, not that. They’re getting paid a lot of money to do that.’”
White admits he has also thought a little bit about his Mountaineer legacy now that his career is winding down with Monday’s game against Texas A&M.
“I just want to leave my mark – play every play like my last. I’m just going to go out there Monday and try and perform to the best of my ability,” he said.
In a year’s time his outlook has changed dramatically and this Tuesday, the day after the Liberty Bowl, it will change once again when he begins focusing on life after college.
Galloway envisions a future for him in the pros.
“I don’t know what he’s going to run but he’s fast enough. Kevin catches the ball without his hands breaking and he can move,” said Galloway. “He will block you and he attacks screens. You ask a kid out wide to come in full speed and catch a screen and then run right down the middle of the field, you have to have a mindset to where I’m fearless. I think he has it.”
“The job isn’t done yet,” White said. “I’ve still got a lot of improving to do. I just want to get to the next level to do what I can to the best of my ability.”
Briefly: The team had its final tune-up today before tomorrow’s game against Texas A&M … Coach Dana Holgorsen attended a pregame news conference at the Embassy Suites with Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin … Holgorsen said earlier today that he has been pleased with the practices his team has had down in Memphis … The Pride of West Virginia, WVU cheerleaders and the Mountaineer took part in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Parade on Beale Street … Be sure to catch tonight’s BrickStreet Insurance Mountaineer Bowl Special at 8 p.m. on Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG affiliates throughout the state … Then on Monday, be sure to watch the Mountaineer GameDay Liberty Bowl Special beginning at 12:30 p.m. and continuing right up to kickoff on West Virginia Media stations throughout the state.
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