North Stafford RB Tevin White (Photo: Joe Barnes/recruit757)
Tevin White has a commitment day set
by Marc Goldstein, recruitNoVA
North Stafford High School junior running back Tevin White has been special from the moment he stepped onto a football field. He separates himself both with his play on the field and his hard work off the field. He works tirelessly in the weight room to improve his physical attributes as well as his academic work ethic. He sports a 3.7 GPA, putting him in the upper tier of football players in terms of grade point average. Recently, he has picked up his 20th offer from Washington State. The Cougars are the latest Power 5 team to give Tevin an offer, and they are the farthest from Northern Virginia as Pullman, Washington is an astounding 2500 miles away.
Aside from being a star running back, Tevin is a regular high school student. He likes to joke around with his friends, as he is a laid-back individual. That being said, he knows that when it is time to get serious, he is always ready to focus on the challenge facing him at any given moment. On the field, however, he is a seriously talented prospect that can light up any defense no matter the conditions or players he is facing. He thrives in the open field and can hit the hole as quickly, if not quicker, than anyone in the area. That is evident in his reported 4.49 second 40 yard dash time. Tevin is not just an average speed demon, though. He is an all-around workhorse. Standing at a modest 6’1 and weighing in at a reported 200 lbs, he is not the same type of physical specimen as someone like Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley. He is, though, very patient and has great instincts on when to hit the hole. He has a similar running style to former All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell.
With all the attention that Tevin has received, it would be understandable for it to change him as a person, however, he is just as humble and hard-working as ever.
“My mindset hasn’t really changed with so many offers. It actually humbled me and motivated me to work harder and get ready for when I do reach that college level,” Tevin explains. When he first started getting offers, Tevin viewed it as something that was more of a trivial thing, but as time progressed, he took a step back and learned that they meant more to him than he realized on the surface. He elaborates, “At first, getting all the offers and rankings was cool and I looked at it as my success from all the hard work I put in. Now, I look at it in the sense that I have these offers and these rankings, and I need to put more work in and just get better every day.”
The age-old question in recruiting is what is the true measure of a good fit between a program, coaching staff, and a player. Some players value the success of a given program over others. Others prefer an opportunity to get a lot of playing time right off the bat. Tevin looks at it in a different light, though. “The most important things that I look for in a college are academics, of course, the coaching staff or coaching style, and the life outside of football at the school and the community at the school itself,” Tevin describes. Tevin is out to prove all the doubters, naysayers, and critics of his game wrong. The offers do not just prove to him that he has a future in the game of football, but they motivate him to get more attention and to keep grinding for everything.
The latest offer, from Washington State, is an interesting one for Tevin. Not only is it the farthest from home, but it comes from a program that rarely recruits in the Northern Virginia area. Since the departure of Coach Mike Leach, the Cougars have been looking to establish themselves once again as a powerhouse in the upper Northwest as a threat to contend for the PAC-12 title. They seemed to be well on their way to greatness but came up short in what amounted to be Leach’s final year in Pullman. Tevin does like the new coaching staff in Pullman and the opportunity waiting for him, saying, “I like how they offered me over Zoom so I got a chance to talk with some of the coaches. I also like how it’s on the West Coast. I already have so many offers on the East Coast, and that’s something different.”
Now, the Cougars turn their attention to Tevin, a player who has already announced his top six schools back in October. Those schools include Duke, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arizona State. Certainly, the offer from Washington State and his previous offer from North Carolina State factor into his eventual decision, but it remains unseen if those schools will be included in his decision-making process. Nonetheless, Tevin has enjoyed the recruitment process from start to end. He plans on taking his official visits in June and then committing on June 24th, his mother’s birthday.
While Tevin still has around two months until he will reportedly announce where he is going to school, he still does have another high school season. He will be given another chance to prove that he is worthy of all the attention he has received, from schools both near and far. Until then, he will continue to be the outgoing, fun-loving guy that he has always been, and will not let the attention get to his head. After all, he talks about being a regular teenager and enjoying the same things as all of his peers. That might hold true off the field, but on the field, Tevin is something special, which is an undeniable fact.
– Marc Goldstein
