Mike White needed a way to pull his team out of a summer slump before the 2016 season.

It was his first year as Western Kentucky’s starting quarterback after transferring from South Florida and sitting out the year before. After a week of two-a-days in the 90-degree Kentucky heat, the Hilltoppers were slow and sluggish with a new season on the horizon.

A four-hour lunch break presented a remedy one day. White drove to Big Lots and bought 10 Nerf-style toy guns and loads of foam ammunition. He returned to the WKU locker room with the arsenal and persuaded the team to join him for a pre-practice game.

“A massive Nerf war” unfolded over the next two weeks, according to former WKU center Dennis Edwards. Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium and the program’s other facilities served as the battleground. The nerf armory ballooned to more than 50 weapons and thousands of foam bullets. Players skipped lunch to build forts throughout the facilities or perch in hiding spots in the stadium so they could snipe unsuspecting teammates.

“It was legit a bunch of grown men running around with Nerf guns,” Edwards told Jets Wire. “It was like Fortnite before Fortnite.”

The clash worked. Just a few weeks after taking over as the starter, White re-invigorated his new Hilltoppers squad. The team ultimately went 11-3 and won the Boca Raton Bowl that year.

White’s NFL journey has been a bit different, but it looks like the Jets quarterback has already rallied the team around him while Zach Wilson recovers from a knee injury. New York’s offense has been humming and White has completed over 70 percent of his passes, albeit over a small sample. The highlight, of course, was White’s 405-yard, three-touchdown victory over the Bengals.

White will start his third consecutive game in Week 10 against a stellar Bills defense.

A 2018 draft pick, White waited four years to throw his first NFL pass. To many, he has come out of nowhere. But his college teammates aren’t shocked by his early success with the Jets. They watched him build tremendous rapport with the Hilltoppers, going 23-5 with 63 touchdowns and just 15 interceptions over two seasons.

White didn’t earn his teammates’ respect just by playing with toy guns, though. He made sure he understood his teammates. He asked all his receivers where they wanted to catch passes and stoically told them to “do your job and we’ll be alright” during games. He even drove teammates back to their hometowns in Louisville, or Miami, or New Orleans, or Atlanta – without them asking – just so he could meet their families and get to know them better.

“Mike wants everyone around him to be comfortable,” former WKU receiver Stephon Brown said. “He can be around a crowd of people with a suit and tie. He can be around a crowd of people at a rap concert. He’s just one of those types of people.”

Everything White’s college teammates have seen from him in the NFL mirrors his mentality in college. How he sees a defense, breaks down his reads and uses his eyes to move defensive backs away from his intended targets — it’s all the same.

“That’s just one of those things where it’s like, you can tell in certain situations, certain times in the game, Mike knows who’s going to catch the ball,” said former WKU receiver Cameron Echols-Luper. “Mike knows who’s going to score the touchdown.”

Take White’s last three NFL touchdown passes, the ones to Braxton Berrios and Tyler Kroft against the Bengals and the one to Elijah Moore against the Colts. Echols-Luper watched White’s head and shoulders on all three passes and laughed at the ease of those throws. The routes were clean and White threw dimes.

“I knew at that moment that Mike White has evolved,” Echols-Luper said. “When Mike’s locked in, the dart is going to hit the bullseye every time.”

Week 10 offers White’s toughest challenge as an NFL starting quarterback yet. The Bills boast arguably the best defense in the league with one of the most aggressive pass-rushing units. But White remains confident in himself and the Jets clearly believe in him, too.

“He’s more than prepared to play this week,” Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said Thursday. “The guys trust him, they believe in him.”

White’s old WKU teammates, meanwhile, believe the best is yet to come.

“Mike White is here, folks,” Echols-Luper said. “Get your popcorn ready. We’ve only seen glimpses.”