Ka’Raun White has chosen to follow the same path his older brother Kevin has taken, first to Lackawanna College, then to West Virginia University, and now, hopefully, one day on to professional football.

 

Kevin went from a relative unknown college wide receiver during his junior year at WVU in 2013 to one of the most coveted players in the 2014 NFL draft, the Chicago Bears taking him with their seventh pick in the first round.

 

At first glance, there are lots of similarities between the two. Both possess good size - Kevin is 6-foot-3 and weighs a rock-solid 215 pounds while Ka’Raun stands 6-feet-1 and weighs about 200 pounds. Both have distinctive hairstyles and both players took a while to get their bearings in Dana Holgorsen’s offense.

 

For Kevin, his junior season saw him catch 35 passes for 507 yards and five touchdowns - good numbers, but not close to what Holgorsen’s most accomplished receivers produce on a yearly basis.

 

Ka’Raun, too, was slow to take off, first suffering a nagging shoulder injury during training camp last year that kept him sidelined for the first part of the season before gradually working his way into the receiver rotation.

 

He didn’t make his first catch until week five against Baylor and he didn’t earn his first start until week eight against Texas. However, it wasn’t until the Cactus Bowl against Arizona State when we really caught our first glimpse of what Ka’Raun White can do on the football field when he caught four passes for 116 yards in West Virginia’s 43-42 victory over the Sun Devils.

 

For the season, he made 15 catches for 275 yards, which is not too far off of Kevin’s junior-year production, and Ka’Raun admits his performance in the bowl game was a big boost to his confidence.

 

“The start of last season wasn’t too good,” he said. “I didn’t play much and then toward the end I started getting the ball and getting some yards and catches, so I’m just using that momentum to keep going.”

 

But while Kevin has always been demonstrative and talkative on the football field, frequently letting defensive backs know when he was making big catches against them or burning them for touchdowns, Ka’Raun prefers to keep his emotions under wraps.

 

“He’s more of a cocky kind of receiver, where I’m more laidback,” Ka’Raun laughed. “I will make a catch and go back to the huddle. He will make a catch and let everybody know about it. I’m just one of those guys who is quiet with it.”

 

The Macungie, Pennsylvania resident says he talks to his big brother just about every day going over things. Kevin will send him cutups of his practices with the Bears or other receivers he tries to emulate with similar playing styles.

 

Ka’Raun admits that’s been very helpful.

 

And Ka’Raun is about to get additional brotherly assistance next month when younger brother Kyzir arrives after completing his junior college coursework at Lackawanna. Unlike Kevin and Ka’Raun, Kyzir has opted to take his talents to the other side of the football where he was considered one of the top junior college prospects in the country this year at safety.

 

One scouting service rated Kyzir the No. 12 junior college player in the country, which led to offers from Power 5 schools from one side of the country to the other. Now, having Ka’Raun and Kyzir going against each other in the summertime and then during fall training camp is going to beneficial to both of them.

 

It’s one thing having good football players going against each other on a daily basis, but when it also involves brothers that elevates things to a whole different level. 

 

“I’m looking forward to that,” Ka’Raun admitted. “We are going to be competing in one-on-one drills, so we’ll see if he can guard me.”

 

We didn’t get to see Ka’Raun perform in last Saturday’s Gold-Blue Game down at The Greenbrier because his old shoulder issues popped up once again. Instead, sophomore Gary Jennings shined in his place, making four catches for 92 yards and a touchdown - a 69-yarder from Skyler Howard.

 

Holgorsen said after the scrimmage that White’s injury was not too serious, and during the regular season he has to push through those types of minor ailments when his teammates are counting on him.

 

“We decided to sit him,” Holgorsen said. “Guys sometimes need to push through things. However, this is not the time to do that.”

 

Still, seeing how well Jennings and true freshman Marcus Simms performed in the spring game, plus, the addition of a couple more guys to the wide receivers room magically has a way of helping along the recuperative process a little bit.

 

White will be the first to admit coach Tyron Carrier’s position room is going to be well-stocked with talented football players by the time training camp rolls around.

 

“I think our receiver group is pretty good, especially with (backup quarterback) David Sills,” White said. “I think we can do good things if we keep working with coach Carrier and doing the things he wants us to do.”

 

Speaking of his new coach, White said he really likes what Carrier brings to the table with his style of coaching and his vast knowledge of Dana Holgorsen’s offense.

 

Carrier was a record-setting wide receiver at Houston for Holgorsen and Kliff Kingsbury, and he also spent a year working as a graduate assistant coach with Art Briles at Baylor, so his detailed knowledge of the modern passing game is already rubbing off on West Virginia’s receivers.

 

“If we mess up, coach Carrier will pull us aside and let us know exactly what we’re doing wrong and how we can fix it,” White said. “If we’re not sticking our routes he will tell us ‘this is the reason why you need to do this.’”

 

White said there are plenty of things he needs to work on between now and the start of fall camp in August.

 

“My speed, improving my routes and also my stamina,” he noted. “That is big for me because I tend to get tired pretty quick sometimes.”

 

The work Kevin White put in between his junior and senior seasons really paid off in a big way. Now, if Ka’Raun continues to follow his big brother’s path and puts in the same amount of hard work and effort, perhaps one day it will lead to a similar outcome.

 

It that happens it would be great for the Whites, and, great for Mountaineer football, too.