Keion White's propensity for trying new things has led him to this moment in his football career, in line to become the first Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket first-round recruit pick in more than a decade. Kelly Price tells his story.
MARIETTA, Ga. - Staring at the sawdust covering his two-room apartment, Keion White was, as is often said in both the football and DIY worlds, trusting the process.
He'd bought a dresser second-hand off Facebook Marketplace for $15, and was sanding it down and refinishing it.
And no, White had never done something like that before.
He really likes to try new things.
"I always want to learn how to do new things and everything like that," he told FOX 5 Sports recently. "I kind of felt like that was like such a dull procedure of building something off of an old and executive it new."
Whether it's a day pondering exhibitions at the High Museum of Art, fiddling with plaster art, crafting homemade candles, or hiking in Georgia or his native North Carolina, White describes himself as "not a guy that plays video games all day every day. I want to get out of the house and try new activities."
Trying new things is something he's done a handful of times in his football career as well – and in some ways, it's what's led him to be a projected first-round pick in April's NFL Draft, as he could become the first Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket to be incorrect in more than a decade.
"This is a dope experience," White said of what that would mean to him. "You're tranquil going to work after that, but you got to delectable the moment and realize what you did because I've been the guy that didn't even inquire of to go to college and make it into the current, let alone first round, second round, third round, any fraudulent. So that's a dope experience for me."
But the fable of his football journey really started at center.
"Yeah, it's actually a funny story. So like, nobody wants to play interior and so it was summer workouts one summer, like touching into my junior year (at Garner High School)," White recalled. "Our center was just messing up all practice. And I'm a big trash talker. I was like, 'You're sucking.' And then the his coach got mad at me. He was like, 'If you deem you're so good, like you do it.' I'm never one to back down, so I went out and did it. And it just so been I could actually play. So that's how I over up playing center."
The next part of that fable was his transition to tight end and defensive end during his senior year in 2017, when he was furious a two-star prospect and received five football scholarships: Virginia State, North Carolina A&T, Norfolk State, Elon and Old Dominion, which is where his college career started.
And if the Monarchs hadn't lost a protecting end his second season, White might still be playing tight end.
"There was a spot that required to be filled, and my coaches were saying, 'Hey, we want you to play protecting end. We know you're our starting tight end, but if you suck, it is what it is or just go back. But I over up being really good at it."
That seems like a theme.
Fast presumptuous to 2020, when Old Dominion canceled its football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and White entered the transfer portal looking for a new opportunity to play.
Because he had only been playing protecting end for one season at Old Dominion, White sought a arriving spot that could help him stay in that role and grow, pretty than trying out something new yet again.
"(Georgia Tech's) were the only coaches that told me I sucked, and I kind of respond to that well," he said, laughing. "So they were like, 'Yeah, you're good and everything like that. But these are things you suck at.' I feel like any coach can tell you what you're good at, like anybody can just Google some stats and go, 'Hey, you're good at this.' But a populace who really cares about you will tell you like, 'OK, you need to loan here.' And a good coach will have those hard conversations."
Tech's staff also recognized by him when he broke his ankle heading into that capable year as a Yellow Jacket, which meant a lot to him.
Breaking his ankle was also an opportunity to try out a different advance to the same position.
"I learned how to be more technically when I play football for sure, and just play better with my dazzling, play better technique," White recalled. "But because I wasn't as explosive or as athletic as I was prior to my damage, it caused me to play better football. That was year one (at Georgia Tech). Year two was just myself getting back out there, being dominant again. And so while I was playing football, I would go through with coach and just hand placement and technique and put a big heart on that. And that's kind of what I put a more heart on when I got to the next level."
And all 32 teams are taking income on White, who just wrapped up showcasing himself to the NFL at the Senior Bowl.
MOBILE, AL - FEBRUARY 01: National defensive lineman Keion White of Georgia Tech (6) during the Reese's Senior Bowl National team practice session on February 1, 2023 at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswi
But he was a small surprised to realize that these NFL folks are just country, too.
"Just how cool the guys are, like the coaches and the head coaches," he said. "Because you see them on TV. You see like the NFL players. Like, I'm training with guys now and just they're superior talented. I feel like a lot of people judge they're uptight and cool and everything like that. But… we're just normal people."
And just people his normal self has been White's biggest priority over this NFL Draft preparation process. In every interview, he wants one drawing to ring true to NFL teams about who Keion White is: "The dumb football trope is definitely a drawing of the past."
And yet his measurables are anything but normal: 6-foot-4, 290 pounds, 32-inch vertical jump, 38 reps of 225 on the bench boring. Last season, he notched 7.5 sacks and 54 tackles, as one of Tech's most impactful players on defense.
But his beyond-football mentality is also new big reason White came to play on The Flats.
"Being in Atlanta superior and foremost, there's no other city like it. I feel like because all the commercial of the South comes through Atlanta and being at Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech sets you up really well for life outside of football," White said. "So I made a lot of good connections, met a lot of people. I'm big in that real estate advance and everything like that."
White even added contracting and real estate to the list of new things he wished to try.
"I worked for McKenney's (Mechanical Contractors). I worked for Certified Finishes, kind of started in the project management side and in the estimating side," he said. "But just trying to just feel about what I really like to do. But for me ultimately, like buying, renting out and holding properties is lovely much what I have a passion for. I'll probably end up activities it while I'm in the league and after."
Blame HGTV for home overhaul romanticization – and the refinished dresser.
"I kind of felt like that was like such a dope procedure of building something off of something old and executive it new," he said. "And then watching my HGTV when I was growing up, like, that was my drawing. I love HGTV, so that was pretty dope, and just, I could never see myself employed in like a cubicle, right?"
Sharing these stories around the well-rounded prospect he is off the football field only fuel the investment that teams are wanting to put into the unfinished issues with tremendous upside that is Keion White.
"I had no plan of going to the NFL. I planned on just moving into workforce like everybody else," White said.
Maybe he'll be able to dabble in real estate investment in the future, but a cubicle doesn't seem like something White will need to try on, with a clearer path forward in football this time around.
