Georgia Tech’s Keion White defying ‘dumb football trope’ as he prepares for NFL Draft

MARIETTA, Ga. – Staring on the sawdust overlaying his two-room house, Keion White was, as is usually stated in each the soccer and DIY worlds, trusting the method.

He’d purchased a dresser second-hand off Fb Market for $15, and was sanding it down and refinishing it. 

And no, White had by no means carried out one thing like that earlier than.

He actually likes to strive new issues.

“I all the time wish to learn to do new issues and the whole lot like that,” he informed FOX 5 Sports activities lately. “I type of felt like that was like such a uninteresting technique of constructing one thing off of an previous and making it new.”

Whether or not it is a day pondering exhibitions on the Excessive Museum of Artwork, fidgeting with plaster artwork, crafting do-it-yourself candles, or mountain climbing in Georgia or his native North Carolina, White describes himself as “not a man that performs video video games all day daily. I wish to get out of the home and check out new actions.”

Making an attempt new issues is one thing he is carried out a handful of instances in his soccer profession as effectively – and in some methods, it is what’s led him to be a projected first-round decide in April’s NFL Draft, as he may change into the primary Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket to be taken in additional than a decade.

“It is a dope expertise,” White stated of what that might imply to him. “You are still going to work after that, however you bought to benefit from the second and understand what you probably did as a result of I have been the man that did not even count on to go to varsity and make it into the draft, not to mention first spherical, second spherical, third spherical, any spherical. In order that’s a dope expertise for me.”

However the story of his soccer journey actually began at middle.

“Yeah, it is really a joke. So like, no person desires to play middle and so it was summer season exercises one summer season, like going into my junior yr (at Garner Excessive College),” White recalled. “Our middle was simply messing up all apply. And I am an enormous trash talker. I used to be like, ‘You’re sucking.’ After which the his coach bought mad at me. He was like, ‘Should you assume you’re so good, such as you do it.’ I am by no means one to again down, so I went out and did it. And it simply so occurred I may really play. In order that’s how I ended up enjoying middle.”

The subsequent a part of that story was his transition to tight finish and defensive finish throughout his senior yr in 2017, when he was rated a two-star prospect and obtained 5 soccer scholarships: Virginia State, North Carolina A&T, Norfolk State, Elon and Outdated Dominion, which is the place his faculty profession began.

And if the Monarchs hadn’t misplaced a defensive finish his second season, White would possibly nonetheless be enjoying tight finish.

“There was a spot that wanted to be crammed, and my coaches had been saying, ‘Hey, we wish you to play defensive finish. We all know you are our beginning tight finish, however when you suck, it’s what it’s or simply return. However I ended up being actually good at it.”

That looks like a theme.

Quick ahead to 2020, when Outdated Dominion canceled its soccer season as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, and White entered the switch portal on the lookout for a brand new alternative to play. 

As a result of he had solely been enjoying defensive finish for one season at Outdated Dominion, White sought a touchdown spot that would assist him keep in that function and develop, relatively than making an attempt out one thing new but once more.

“(Georgia Tech’s) had been the one coaches that informed me I sucked, and I type of reply to that effectively,” he stated, laughing. “In order that they had been like, ‘Yeah, you are good and the whole lot like that. However these are belongings you suck at.’ I really feel like all coach can inform you what you are good at, like anyone can simply Google some stats and go, ‘Hey, you are good at this.’ However an individual who actually cares about you’ll inform you like, ‘OK, you have to enhance right here.’ And a great coach can have these onerous conversations.”

Tech’s employees additionally stood by him when he broke his ankle heading into that first yr as a Yellow Jacket, which meant loads to him.

Breaking his ankle was additionally a chance to check out a distinct strategy to the identical place.

“I discovered learn how to be extra technical once I play soccer for positive, and simply play higher with my fingers, play higher approach,” White recalled. “However as a result of I wasn’t as explosive or as athletic as I used to be previous to my harm, it triggered me to play higher soccer. That was yr one (at Georgia Tech). 12 months two was simply myself getting again on the market, being dominant once more. And so whereas I used to be enjoying soccer, I’d undergo with coach and simply hand placement and approach and put an enormous give attention to that. And that is type of what I put a extra give attention to once I bought to the subsequent stage.”

And all 32 groups are taking notes on White, who simply wrapped up showcasing himself to the NFL on the Senior Bowl.

However he was just a little shocked to understand that these NFL of us are simply folks, too.

“Simply how cool the blokes are, just like the coaches and the pinnacle coaches,” he stated. “Since you see them on TV. You see just like the NFL gamers. Like, I am coaching with guys now and simply they’re tremendous proficient. I really feel like lots of people assume they’re uptight and funky and the whole lot like that. However… we’re simply regular folks.”

And simply being his regular self has been White’s largest precedence all through this NFL Draft preparation course of. In each interview, he desires one factor to ring true to NFL groups about who Keion White is: “The dumb soccer trope is unquestionably a factor of the previous.”

And but his measurables are something however regular: 6-foot-4, 290 kilos, 32-inch vertical bounce, 38 reps of 225 on the bench press. Final season, he notched 7.5 sacks and 54 tackles, as one among Tech’s most impactful gamers on protection.

However his beyond-football mentality can be one other massive purpose White got here to play on The Flats.

“Being in Atlanta at the beginning, there isn’t any different metropolis prefer it. I really feel like as a result of all of the enterprise of the South comes by Atlanta and being at Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech units you up rather well for all times exterior of soccer,” White stated. “So I made numerous good connections, met lots of people. I am massive in that actual property improvement and the whole lot like that.”

White even added contracting and actual property to the checklist of latest issues he needed to strive.

“I labored for McKenney’s (Mechanical Contractors). I labored for Licensed Finishes, type of began within the mission administration facet and within the estimating facet,” he stated. “However simply making an attempt to only really feel round what I actually love to do. However for me finally, like shopping for, renting out and holding properties is just about what I’ve a ardour for. I will in all probability find yourself doing it whereas I am within the league and after.”

Blame HGTV for residence renovation romanticization – and the refinished dresser.

“I type of felt like that was like such a dope technique of constructing one thing off of one thing previous and making it new,” he stated. “After which watching my HGTV once I was rising up, like, that was my factor. I really like HGTV, in order that was fairly dope, and simply, I may by no means see myself working in like a cubicle, proper?”

Sharing these tales in regards to the well-rounded prospect he’s off the soccer discipline solely gas the funding that groups are wanting to place into the unfinished product with super upside that’s Keion White.

“I had no intention of going to the NFL. I deliberate on simply going into workforce like everyone else,” White stated.

Possibly he’ll have the ability to dabble in actual property funding sooner or later, however a cubicle would not seem to be one thing White might want to strive on, with a clearer path forward in soccer this time round.