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White Believes BC’s Wide Receiver Room Will Shock the Country in 2021

Boston College and North Carolina State were the only two ACC teams with three wide receivers ranked in the conference’s top 30 for receiving yards last season.

Led by All-ACC First Teamer Zay Flowers—BC’s first wide receiver to earn the league honor since Alex Amidon in 2012—the Eagles had three wideouts with 430 or more receiving yards.

All of them are back. And so is Kobay White, who missed last year with a knee injury but led the team in receptions in 2019 and has stockpiled 1,409 career receiving yards.

“I think we’re really going to be able to shock the country this year,” White said.

The graduate wideout partially tore his ACL on the second day of training camp last summer. BC was doing red zone work. It was a tempo day. White ran a route, went up for the catch, and an awkward landing flipped what was supposed to be his final season upside down.

White tried to play on his bum knee. But the pain was too significant. He ended up having surgery and watching the first year of the Jeff Hafley era unfold on the sideline.

Flowers became a household name, CJ Lewis broke out, Jaelen Gill had a career resurgence, and Jehlani Galloway emerged as a reliable target in the slot.

Still, while a season-ending injury provided several challenges, White wasn’t frustrated that he was missing out on a revolutionized BC aerial attack that finished the year third in the ACC in passing yards per game. Instead, he was excited about what was in store for 2021.

“My teammates, the coaches, my family, they really rallied behind me and made sure I always had a positive mindset and positive vibes all around,” White said after Wednesday’s spring practice. “Each day is getting easier, especially as I start to do more and start to actually feel more like a football player again.”

Whether it was helping the equipment staff prepare the locker room for games or cheering on his teammates throughout the season, White remained active. The success of his fellow wide receivers brought him joy. Especially when it came to CJ Lewis, one of White’s good friends.

White explained that Lewis suffered a similar injury in 2019, about a week or two before BC’s season opener that year. Except it was to his toe, not his knee. Lewis played in four games before being shut down for the rest of the year so that he could fully recover.

It was a tough break for a quarterback-turned-wide receiver who was on the brink of making a name for himself. That’s why 2021 was all the more fulfilling, White said.

“Seeing CJ have this year was probably one of the best feelings,” he said. “I knew how much it meant to him after getting hurt the season before, when he was supposed to have his breakout year. Seeing all that work finally pay off, it’s a real good feeling.”

White will have a chance to get that kind of payoff this fall. Although he was BC’s No. 1 wide receiver from 2017-19, he’s never seen the consistent targets Eagles wideouts got in offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.’s pro-style scheme.

He’ll have to compete for them this spring and summer, however, Cignetti prioritizes getting the ball in his playmakers’ hands. That includes White.

“As the play-caller, it's my responsibility to put these guys in a position to be successful,” Cignetti said on March 23. “[Kobay] will be one of those guys. He’ll be one of those added weapons. Throughout training camp, we'll find a good niche for him and hopefully you'll see in the fall a healthy Kobay make some big plays for us.”

White knows the crowded wide receiver room will only make BC better. He mentioned how each wideout constantly pushes one another to improve. White recounted how, last offseason when Flowers worked out with Antonio Brown, the speedy Eagles wideout shared tips he learned from Brown with White and his other teammates on their morning Zoom calls.

If there’s a receiver White models his game after, it’s former Seattle Seahawks undrafted free agent-turned-star Doug Baldwin. White said Baldwin actually spoke to BC’s wide receiver room last year.

Like Baldwin, White—only 5-foot-11—can go up and get it anywhere on the field. He’s got great hands and can create separation with the ACC’s best corners.

“Having Kobay back, yeah it's going to be hard to guard us,” Flowers said last week. “We lost Hunter [Long], then we gained Kobay. Ain't going to be able to double team anybody. We're going to have all playmakers on the field.”

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