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JASON LA CANFORA
CBS Sports NFL Insider
White's journey from NFL bust to Redskins remarkable, improbable
The voice on the other end of the line is not as expected.
These are the words and inflections of an old soul -- measured, thoughtful, introspective responses to questions bracketed by pronounced and poignant pauses. He considers each query carefully, and, as Pat White explains his circuitous journey of self rediscovery through football, you get deeper to the core of what originally drove him away from the game he has loved since he was 4, and what led him back to the sport now, at 27, about to embark on a most improbable comeback with the Washington Redskins.
You are listening to him, at times, baring that old soul, as he reveals his conflicted feelings that led him out of Miami after only one season (2009), despite having been taken 44th overall in the draft one year earlier. He makes no excuses, blames no one but himself -- self-doubt and a sense of entitlement toppling a bright career. White's maturity -- how deeply he plunged into his own psyche to determine what once led him astray -- is striking at times, and you can't help but come away from the conversation rooting for the young man to make good on his promise in this second, and likely last, shot at the NFL.
White, a former record-setting quarterback at West Virginia who has kept a decidedly low profile in recent years, understands why some might look at him and scoff. A potential two sport star, in football and baseball, he has yet to make his mark in either now four years out of college (the Angels took him in the fourth-round of the MLB draft in 2004). And that's OK. He isn't looking for sympathy, is very comfortable outside the limelight and frankly, for much of his two years out of football, didn't think another opportunity ever would materialize.
But he also won't allow himself to be held hostage by his missteps, to let his brief tenure with the Dolphins or dalliances with minor league baseball define him forevermore. He's already overcome the odds just by securing a contract with the Redskins after so much time away, and I would point out, White is hardly the only talented kid to meander through his 20s (anyone knocking his age should note White is nearly three years younger than Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden, who was taken in the first round last April). White seems emboldened and empowered by his growth, and after spending this winter chasing a dream by training in hopes of returning to athletics in some capacity, he's vowing to not to waste this chance with the Redskins.
"It's been two long years, I'm more than excited," White said. "I'm just ready to get in the office and go to work. I'm ready to learn from the coaching staff, and also from the other players and just to be in the locker room and the atmosphere of the Washington Redskins. More than anything, I'm just happy to have a second chance to live my life.
"For a long time, I was trying and doing everything possible to run from who I am -- trying not to be the Patrick White that I really am. Everything I was attempting to do was to take me away from that, and by trying to make that happen, it took me full circle and brought me back to where I need to be. It's been a humbling experience. Not to say I wasn't humble before, but I definitely wasn't humble enough."
For White, the past few years have been a struggle, more mental than physical.
He was always a tremendous athlete, a coveted recruit, who turned down baseball offers to play college football and perhaps entered the NFL a bit before his time. The Dolphins were dabbling with Wildcat concepts when he was drafted and thought of him as someone who could compete to be their starter, but this was still well before the current craze with read-option football in the pro game. That style mirrors much of what he did at West Virginia (and what the Redskins ran last season under Robert Griffin III, making Washington a natural fit).
White appeared in 13 games as a rookie, usually in a spot role, attempting five passes and rushing 21 times for 81 yards. His season ended with a concussion from a heavy hit from Steelers corner Ike Taylor (White was eventually pressured into joining the class-action concussion lawsuit against the NFL, according to sources, but his lawyer removed him from that before signing with Washington; White said he's been symptom-free for quite some time).
He did not make it through final cuts in 2010, released by Miami that September and ended up signing with the Kansas City Royals and playing fall instructional ball for them shortly after his release.
Then, White more or less disappeared. He had a brief stint with the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League in 2011, but was cut after a few months. As he talks about those lost years you get the impression he was grappling to find himself and his true calling.
"I don't think I ever stopped loving the game of football; I was trying to make myself not love it," White said. "I was trying my hardest to make myself fall in love with something else, but my heart brought me back to the game. My passion for it is undeniable ... It's something that burns inside and has since the first day I stepped on a field at the age of 4."
White sought solace in baseball, which he says he loves, too, but not in the way he derives joy from playing quarterback. He immersed himself in music, jazz and classical and instrumental. He took acting classes and went on a few auditions and considered preparing himself for broadcasting work.
"There were a million different things I tried to get myself to fall in love with," White said, but those other interests never filled the void.
For much of 2010 and 2011, he stayed away from football, couldn't bring himself to watch a game. He stayed away from television in general. "For the first few years I was out of the game it was hard for me to turn on anything," he said.
Some have suggested that his concussion in some way sapped his will to play the game, at least temporarily. Some have pointed to the more rigid thinking in the NFL at the time, not as willing to sculpt spread and option principles into offenses for non-traditional college quarterbacks. White will have none of that. He takes ownership for why his career fizzled.
"I know the concussion got a lot of attention, but it played a very small role," White said. "It was mostly me just not believing in myself. In order to be successful in this world it has to come from within, and I allowed outside influences to affect me as a human being and a person.
"Over the past three years I've learned that anything in life you want, if you're going to be successful doing it, it has to come from within and be displayed outwardly. In my heart I believe that's the only way for us as individual human beings to be successful."
White had to, in time, come to grips with why guys who were freshmen when he was a senior, who had far less natural talent, were now starring in the NFL. He had to revisit his past and determine why he perhaps wasn't as motivated and dedicated as he should have been, and why it didn't work out.
"More than anything for me it was me realizing that at a young age I was selfish," White said. "I wasn't patient enough for my time to come around, and just having this second opportunity is more than a blessing, and I'm more than gracious to have it. A lot of people say, 'Maybe the NFL wasn't ready for you?' Or, 'You were ahead of your time.' No, I just wasn't patient enough, simple as that. And it took me to realize that to start preparing for a second opportunity.
"Before, I made excuses and pointed the finger at everybody else but myself. But at the end of the day if you want something bad enough you have to pursue it and go after it. No one can make it happen for you. That's something I had to learn, and thankfully I'm still young enough to get another chance. I disrespected the blessings God gave me, so for him to allow me another opportunity to use my gifts is an eye-opener for me, and it's definitely brought my relationship with him and my faith stronger."
This comeback began most humbly.
White's first goal was simple: "Just get active," he said.
It began by getting off the couch and working out around the house. He finally flipped on a few football games, saw hybrid, young quarterbacks like Griffin, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick shocking the old-school cynics, and instead of turning off the set, he started playing couch quarterback alongside them.
"For them to go in and do what they did definitely allowed me this opportunity," White said.
The Miami Marlins offered an invite to spring training, which further stoked White's desire to not give up on pro sports, so he hired a speed and conditioning coach and started to hone his baseball techniques. White knows former baseball star Gary Sheffield and asked him for help in finding a hitting instructor. Sheffield put him in touch with Lenny Harris, MLB's record-holder for career pinch hits.
Like many others, Harris had forgotten about White ("The West Virginia quarterback," Sheffield reminded Harris). Harris agreed to work him out but wasn't interested in wasting his time if the pupil wasn't ready to be intense. Soon enough, White was driving from Fort Lauderdale to Miami and back, five days a week, putting in long hours with Harris, who played 18 years in the majors and was a former hitting coach with the Nationals.
Read more here.
CBS Sports NFL Insider
White's journey from NFL bust to Redskins remarkable, improbable
The voice on the other end of the line is not as expected.
These are the words and inflections of an old soul -- measured, thoughtful, introspective responses to questions bracketed by pronounced and poignant pauses. He considers each query carefully, and, as Pat White explains his circuitous journey of self rediscovery through football, you get deeper to the core of what originally drove him away from the game he has loved since he was 4, and what led him back to the sport now, at 27, about to embark on a most improbable comeback with the Washington Redskins.
You are listening to him, at times, baring that old soul, as he reveals his conflicted feelings that led him out of Miami after only one season (2009), despite having been taken 44th overall in the draft one year earlier. He makes no excuses, blames no one but himself -- self-doubt and a sense of entitlement toppling a bright career. White's maturity -- how deeply he plunged into his own psyche to determine what once led him astray -- is striking at times, and you can't help but come away from the conversation rooting for the young man to make good on his promise in this second, and likely last, shot at the NFL.
White, a former record-setting quarterback at West Virginia who has kept a decidedly low profile in recent years, understands why some might look at him and scoff. A potential two sport star, in football and baseball, he has yet to make his mark in either now four years out of college (the Angels took him in the fourth-round of the MLB draft in 2004). And that's OK. He isn't looking for sympathy, is very comfortable outside the limelight and frankly, for much of his two years out of football, didn't think another opportunity ever would materialize.
But he also won't allow himself to be held hostage by his missteps, to let his brief tenure with the Dolphins or dalliances with minor league baseball define him forevermore. He's already overcome the odds just by securing a contract with the Redskins after so much time away, and I would point out, White is hardly the only talented kid to meander through his 20s (anyone knocking his age should note White is nearly three years younger than Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden, who was taken in the first round last April). White seems emboldened and empowered by his growth, and after spending this winter chasing a dream by training in hopes of returning to athletics in some capacity, he's vowing to not to waste this chance with the Redskins.
"It's been two long years, I'm more than excited," White said. "I'm just ready to get in the office and go to work. I'm ready to learn from the coaching staff, and also from the other players and just to be in the locker room and the atmosphere of the Washington Redskins. More than anything, I'm just happy to have a second chance to live my life.
"For a long time, I was trying and doing everything possible to run from who I am -- trying not to be the Patrick White that I really am. Everything I was attempting to do was to take me away from that, and by trying to make that happen, it took me full circle and brought me back to where I need to be. It's been a humbling experience. Not to say I wasn't humble before, but I definitely wasn't humble enough."
For White, the past few years have been a struggle, more mental than physical.
He was always a tremendous athlete, a coveted recruit, who turned down baseball offers to play college football and perhaps entered the NFL a bit before his time. The Dolphins were dabbling with Wildcat concepts when he was drafted and thought of him as someone who could compete to be their starter, but this was still well before the current craze with read-option football in the pro game. That style mirrors much of what he did at West Virginia (and what the Redskins ran last season under Robert Griffin III, making Washington a natural fit).
White appeared in 13 games as a rookie, usually in a spot role, attempting five passes and rushing 21 times for 81 yards. His season ended with a concussion from a heavy hit from Steelers corner Ike Taylor (White was eventually pressured into joining the class-action concussion lawsuit against the NFL, according to sources, but his lawyer removed him from that before signing with Washington; White said he's been symptom-free for quite some time).
He did not make it through final cuts in 2010, released by Miami that September and ended up signing with the Kansas City Royals and playing fall instructional ball for them shortly after his release.
Then, White more or less disappeared. He had a brief stint with the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League in 2011, but was cut after a few months. As he talks about those lost years you get the impression he was grappling to find himself and his true calling.
"I don't think I ever stopped loving the game of football; I was trying to make myself not love it," White said. "I was trying my hardest to make myself fall in love with something else, but my heart brought me back to the game. My passion for it is undeniable ... It's something that burns inside and has since the first day I stepped on a field at the age of 4."
White sought solace in baseball, which he says he loves, too, but not in the way he derives joy from playing quarterback. He immersed himself in music, jazz and classical and instrumental. He took acting classes and went on a few auditions and considered preparing himself for broadcasting work.
"There were a million different things I tried to get myself to fall in love with," White said, but those other interests never filled the void.
For much of 2010 and 2011, he stayed away from football, couldn't bring himself to watch a game. He stayed away from television in general. "For the first few years I was out of the game it was hard for me to turn on anything," he said.
Some have suggested that his concussion in some way sapped his will to play the game, at least temporarily. Some have pointed to the more rigid thinking in the NFL at the time, not as willing to sculpt spread and option principles into offenses for non-traditional college quarterbacks. White will have none of that. He takes ownership for why his career fizzled.
"I know the concussion got a lot of attention, but it played a very small role," White said. "It was mostly me just not believing in myself. In order to be successful in this world it has to come from within, and I allowed outside influences to affect me as a human being and a person.
"Over the past three years I've learned that anything in life you want, if you're going to be successful doing it, it has to come from within and be displayed outwardly. In my heart I believe that's the only way for us as individual human beings to be successful."
White had to, in time, come to grips with why guys who were freshmen when he was a senior, who had far less natural talent, were now starring in the NFL. He had to revisit his past and determine why he perhaps wasn't as motivated and dedicated as he should have been, and why it didn't work out.
"More than anything for me it was me realizing that at a young age I was selfish," White said. "I wasn't patient enough for my time to come around, and just having this second opportunity is more than a blessing, and I'm more than gracious to have it. A lot of people say, 'Maybe the NFL wasn't ready for you?' Or, 'You were ahead of your time.' No, I just wasn't patient enough, simple as that. And it took me to realize that to start preparing for a second opportunity.
"Before, I made excuses and pointed the finger at everybody else but myself. But at the end of the day if you want something bad enough you have to pursue it and go after it. No one can make it happen for you. That's something I had to learn, and thankfully I'm still young enough to get another chance. I disrespected the blessings God gave me, so for him to allow me another opportunity to use my gifts is an eye-opener for me, and it's definitely brought my relationship with him and my faith stronger."
This comeback began most humbly.
White's first goal was simple: "Just get active," he said.
It began by getting off the couch and working out around the house. He finally flipped on a few football games, saw hybrid, young quarterbacks like Griffin, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick shocking the old-school cynics, and instead of turning off the set, he started playing couch quarterback alongside them.
"For them to go in and do what they did definitely allowed me this opportunity," White said.
The Miami Marlins offered an invite to spring training, which further stoked White's desire to not give up on pro sports, so he hired a speed and conditioning coach and started to hone his baseball techniques. White knows former baseball star Gary Sheffield and asked him for help in finding a hitting instructor. Sheffield put him in touch with Lenny Harris, MLB's record-holder for career pinch hits.
Like many others, Harris had forgotten about White ("The West Virginia quarterback," Sheffield reminded Harris). Harris agreed to work him out but wasn't interested in wasting his time if the pupil wasn't ready to be intense. Soon enough, White was driving from Fort Lauderdale to Miami and back, five days a week, putting in long hours with Harris, who played 18 years in the majors and was a former hitting coach with the Nationals.
Read more here.
