Getting to Know Buccaneers’ Rookie White

0

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted running back Rachaad White in the third-round of this year’s NFL draft. The former Arizona State Sun Devil was known as a playmaker in college, a human highlight reel.

White recently sat down with the Buccaneers media department to film his “Meet the Rookies” segment. These segments give us a behind the scenes look at the team’s rookies, where they came from, and how they got here.

“I just want to be the best at my position. I want to be the best player on the field and just go hard at everything I do.” We hear comments like this from nearly every rookie. But in White’s case, there seems to be more substance to it. White recently appeared on The Jim Rome Show and talked about not only learning from the veterans, but aiming to take their job.

“My expectation, my goal is I’m going in there competing,” White stated. “I want to be the starting running back. That’s how it go. I know I got Lenny in front of me. And you know I’m going to soak up a lot of knowledge from Lenny in that running backs room and Giovani Bernard. That’s just the type of guy I am. You know, I’m always a competitor first.”

It feels like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been trying to find a pass catching running back since general manager Jason Licht took this job. From Charles Sims to Ke’Shawn Vaughn, this journey has been long and fruitless. In the third round of this year’s NFL draft Licht took another bite at the apple.

Jason Licht On White

“A lot of these backs, I’d say most of them in college, you can pick them apart for their pass protection skills. It’s kind of a lost art,” Licht stated. “As long as they’re willing, as long as they’re smart, as long as they want to do it, you’ve got a chance to make them better and work on their weaknesses in that regard at this level. We saw that with him. We saw the passion, this guy’s a really driven guy with a chip on his shoulder. Guys like that have a chance.”

White spoke with the Buccaneers’ media shortly after being selected. He spoke about his mindset and the task ahead of him.

“The best thing I believe I bring to the Bucs is a guy that works hard,” White said to the media. “You guys got a bunch of guys in the building that already work hard so I feel like with me, you just added another one. A guy that’s very humble and hungry. I feel like I bring a lot of good playmaking, catching the ball out of the backfield, really just doing my job to help the team win.”

I’m A Guy That Loves Football”

White continued talking about his drive and the competitive mentality he has.

“Football in itself is motivating,” White stated. “I’m a guy that loves football, this is something I wanted to do since I was a little kid. Everything I do in life, regardless, it could be the little or simple things. Me and my boys, let’s see who can eat this food the fastest or something. I’m a competitor. I want to be the best. Whatever comes with that, I’ll be grateful for it. I just honestly want to be the best, so I put in a lot of time, I put in a lot of work, and I’m going to keep doing that.”

White went on about the opportunity to learn from Leonard Fournette and Giovani Bernard.

“I know Leonard Fournette has been in the league for a good amount of years now and I respect his game a lot,” White continued. “I know he comes to work hard, you can tell by his body of work and what he’s done in the NFL. Obviously, I’m gonna be grateful and thankful to have him. I believe Giovani Bernard is in that room. Just good guys to pick their brains, in order to help me sustain the level of success and be in the league as long as they have.”

White looks to be the plug and play pick the Buccaneers need behind Fournette. He has the size needed, the ability to catch the ball and can pass protect. But most importantly, he seems to have the right mind-set.

For more on this and everything Buccaneers check back here hourly at BucsReport.com.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail