Between 1996 and 2019, Boston College receivers combined for 57 games with 100 or more yards. Last year alone, tight end Hunter Long and wide receivers Zay Flowers and Jaelen Gill accounted for six such performances.
Kobay White, BC’s top wide receiver in a run-oriented Steve Addazio offense the previous three years, wants in on the fun.
“Oh I mean, it’s exciting,” White said after Monday’s scrimmage. “I watched all the receivers have great years last year. I’m just excited to come in and join the team and be part of that.”
White, who had two of BC’s four 100-yard receiving games from 2014-19, missed the 2020 season with an ACL tear that he suffered toward the end of last summer.
The sixth-year wideout explained that, at the time, he didn’t know what exactly had happened to his knee. It was only after a couple weeks of trying to play through the pain that the team doctors detected his season-ending injury. It could have very well closed the door on White’s BC career as he redshirted his freshman season in 2016, however, thanks to the NCAA’s COVID-19 blanket waiver, the veteran was allowed to come back for another year.
Head coach Jeff Hafley sat down with White and told him that he was willing to have him on the team in 2021. That’s when White turned the page and embarked on his road back to the field.
He did anything he could to help the team while sidelined with his knee injury.
Last year, Hafley told the story about how White called him around 10 p.m. the night before the season opener at Duke and asked if he could go early to Wallace Wade Stadium to help the equipment staff prepare the locker room for the game. Throughout the season, White focused on hydrating, eating well and rehabbing his knee as well as cheering on his teammates who were flourishing in offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.’s pro-style offense.
“The hardest parts are when you have those really good days, and you’re feeling really good, then you go right back to having those bad days,” White said. “You’ve just got to keep a good mindset throughout the whole time.”
White saw Flowers blow the top off secondaries, Gill find a role for himself after struggling to get playing time at Ohio State and CJ Lewis shake his drop problem in a big way—Lewis registered the second-most contested catches (six) on the team last season.
It’s a position group that’s as deep as any in the ACC, with newcomers like Lewis Bond and Jaden Williams impressing in fall camp, too. Don’t forget Jehlani Galloway, either. The redshirt junior was a clutch performer for BC last year, recording eight of his 15 catches and both of his touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
“Every day, we just come to compete,” White said. “We make each other better. The coaches do a great job of getting us all reps. We all just push each other every day. It’s that competition that we have in the room that is what’s going to make us elite.”
Hafley likes what he’s seen so far from White, who he said is doing things he showed on tape from his first three years on the field with the Eagles.
The second-year head coach believes that his most experienced wideout is just going to get stronger and more confident as camp progresses.
“When you don’t play football for such a long period of time, and you have an injury like he did, he’s just gotta learn to trust it and let it loose,” Hafley said.
“And I think you’re starting to see him do that.”
White started to develop a rapport with fellow Pennsylvania high school football star Phil Jurkovec last year, but now the two are on the brink of their first game action together. White can’t wait to flash their connection on Saturdays.
“He’s an athlete,” White said of Jurkovec while smiling. “He has a great arm. He’s got great strength. He can throw the ball very well. He can do it all.”
White totaled 96 catches, 1,049 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns during the 2017-19 seasons. His numbers in a revamped passing offense with All-ACC first-teamer Zay Flowers on the other side of the perimeter could be head turning.
White’s return is one of the several reasons why BC fans and the national media are anticipating an impressive 2021 season from the Eagles. He’s been here before, though. Similar predictions and excitement surrounded the 2018 season, which ultimately saw BC drop out of the AP Top 25 with three straight losses to end the year.
As far as White’s concerned, there’s a lot to prove.
“Realistically, [there’s] all the hype, but we haven’t done anything,” White said. “We’re still working just as hard as before. The hype doesn’t really matter.”
