The NFL will take its draft to Chicago Thursday night for the first time in modern history away from New York City.
The Big 12 will be barely represented.
West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White, who is projected among the first 10 players and is listed as one of the two best wide receivers, will be attending the festivities. White is ranked No. 4 in Scouts Inc.’s most recent draft power rankings heading into Thursday’s first round.
White would be the third West Virginia player picked in the first round in the last four drafts. Defensive end Bruce Irvin was selected by Seattle with the 15th pick in 2012 and wide receiver Tavon Austin was chosen eighth by St. Louis in 2013.
It will be a culmination of White’s football program to this point of his career, White told Pro Football Talk.com.
“I think I’m going to be very emotional, a lot of tears, just because it has been a very long journey for me,” White said. “A lot of the guys go straight out of high school to Division One. I had to go to junior college and even when I was at junior college, I had to miss a season. It’s been a long journey.”
After arriving from Lackawanna College in 2013, White struggled to find his place in Dana Holgorsen’s passing attack in his first season with 35 receptions. But he exploded with a huge senior season, producing 109 receptions for 1,447 yards, 10 touchdowns and a 13.3 yard-per-catch average in 2014 with the Mountaineers.
“My junior year wasn’t great,” White said. “ I had a lot of nicks and bruises and we had a losing season. It’s been a long journey for me, a lot of pressure on me to kind of do what I have to do to make it. It’s not very common for a guy like me to make it so come draft day, I’m going to be very emotional.”
White will vie with Alabama’s Amari Cooper to be the first wide receiver selected in the draft.
If you want to watch both of them get selected, you might be wise to turn into the early moments of the draft. Because both don’t figure to be around for very long.