BigBigCat
Unregistered
|
Tenacious White solidifies O-line
By Tim Doherty
tdoherty@clarionledger.com
HATTIESBURG — Four and a half years ago, Southern Miss offensive tackle Chris White was a mere shadow of his future self, a relatively svelte fellow who played sports year 'round.
"When I graduated from my high school, I weighed 225 pounds," said White, a Winona native. "A two-X T-shirt, I was very comfortable with that."
Those days — and those T-shirts — are long gone, though White remains relatively slight by college football standards for a top-drawer offensive lineman.
But the 6-foot-3, 295-pound White will make his 17th consecutive start for the Golden Eagles (3-0, 2-0 Conference USA), who welcome Houston (1-4, 1-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday to Roberts Stadium.
"To be honest, it's been more of a struggle buying new clothes than to play guard or tackle," White said. "That's the truth."
White will make his 10th straight start at arguably the most important position on offense other than quarterback: left tackle. White, who dabbled at center during the spring of 2003 after transferring in early from Holmes Community College, had been the starter at right guard before shifting to the far left.
"It happened during that break last year," White said of the off week in the seventh week of the season. "We made a lot of changes that week."
Changes that proved to be for the better. Dustin Almond was named the starting quarterback. Anthony Harris won the starting job at running back. Travis Cooley returned from a knee injury to fill White's slot at guard.
USM hasn't lost a regular season game since while running its C-USA winning streak to 11 games. The lone blemish on the record was a disappointing 17-0 loss to Utah in the Liberty Bowl.
<a href='http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041005/SPORTS030104/410050333/1025' target='_blank'>CLARION-LEDGER: White solidifies offensive line</a>
|
|
10-05-2004 10:41 AM |
|