Advertisement
football Edit

Kenny White talks Pitt, increased recruiting interest

2018 West Allegheny star defensive back Kenny White has made a name as one of the top players in his class to watch in the western Pennsylvania region and now the defensive back is seeing increased interest from his hometown school.

Advertisement

While the proliferation of recruiting camps and combines in the offseason, the easy accessibility of Hudl tape, and the growth of 7v7 tournaments across the country has led to a more complete picture of recruiting evaluations than ever before, there are still late-bloomers who appear seemingly out of nowhere to become big-time prospects. It’s weird to even say that not appearing on the scene until your junior season makes you a late-bloomer, but that’s the nature of the beast nowadays.

Imperial (Pa.) West Allegheny star Kenny White, a defensive back in the class of 2018, appeared out of the blue this season to quickly become one of Pennsylvania’s most exciting prospects. Listed at 6-foot and 187 pounds, White excels as both a defensive back and running back for West Allegheny, and even got tread at wildcat quarterback and receiver at times. His overnight increase in attention is something that White credits largely to his offseason training.

“My junior season came with a lot of help from Dwayne (Brown, one of the leaders of the 2/10ths training and Evolve 7v7 organization),” White said. “He’s helped me a ton since I came here last year in the middle of December. I give it all to him. I give the credit to my season for him.”

White has received his first Power Five offer of the recruiting process from the Big 12’s Iowa State, but it’s surely not going to be his last. Long defensive backs are en vogue in college nowadays and White is going to begin generating significant interest.

“I have the offer from Iowa State and I’m supposed to go up to Toledo. I’m just taking my time in recruiting though, I’m not rushing anything at all,” White explained. “I’m really hoping to hear from my hometown Pitt and Penn State, but I’m just waiting until my time comes.”

When I saw White on Saturday, it was at Pitt’s practice facilities on the South Side of Pittsburgh, where he was competing at the tryouts for Evolve’s 7v7 team for this offseason. With Pitt players and running backs coach Andre Powell in attendance, he put on a show at cornerback and is hoping that his performances lead to an offer from Pitt down the road.

“I think Pitt played really well this year. They beat Clemson and then [Clemson] went on to win the national championship. I give a huge shoutout to Pitt. It would be really big if Pitt offered me,” White said. “I would love to be there. I know some of the players like Damar Hamlin and some other guys. It would be great to play with them.”

While White spent most of the tryout on Saturday at defensive back, he plays both ways at the high school level. For whatever reason, western Pennsylvania seems to have produced an abnormal number of players who see action on both sides of the football in college and White would love to be next in line.

“I would actually love to play both ways, but sometimes you’ve got to make the right decision on that. I would like to play defensive back for sure wherever I go though,” White said.

The tryout was a good opportunity for the West Allegheny star to get in work against players like 2018 Penn Hills (Pa.) three-star Julian Major, 2018 Montour standout Ronnie Stevenson, and early 2019 studs Rahmon Hart Jr. and Corey Thomas Jr.. White appreciated the opportunity for the offseason competition.

“It was fun going against the best talent here in [Pennsylvania]. You don’t really always get to see it until after the season. We just try to come out here and have fun and we end up being teammates at the end of the day,” he said.

White will be one of the key prospects to watch in the western Pennsylvania area in the offseason between his junior and senior year. Expect the 2018 defensive back to make waves as one of the best recruits in the region in his class. You can view his senior highlights at this link.

White lines up across from 2018 WR Julian Major
White lines up across from 2018 WR Julian Major (Ryan Donnelly)
Advertisement