By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE — Little Rock Christian Class of 2024 four-star quarterback Walker White is among the nation’s top quarterbacks and he’s gaining the scholarship offers to prove it.
White, 6-3, 220, has a long list of scholarship offers including one from Arkansas. Kendal Briles and Dowell Loggains watched him throw on April 22 and then offered him. White attended Arkansas’ Prospect Camp on Friday. In addition to Briles and Loggains, he’s a fan of Sam Pittman as well.
“Today was awesome,” White said. “Today was great for both my parents and I. We do the photo shoot. Usually when I come up here I don’t do a tour. I’ve seen it but today was really good spending time with Coach Briles and meeting with Coach Pittman and talking ball which we’ve never done all that.”
The camp didn’t start like White wanted, but ended very well once he got into a rhythm.
“I started off a little slow but it kicked in and I got myself right,” White said. “Coach Briles came up to me and was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I was like ‘I’m sorry, I’ll get it right,’ and he said, ‘Ok’. Then I started doing the deeds.
“I got into a good rhythm I started being on time and having a mindset of this ball is going to be completed. Just being more loose and having that confidence and that peace is the biggest thing for me. When I’m confident and I have peace on the field is when I’m at my best.”
One of the highlights of the camp was White got to have a film study with Briles.
“We watched some film of what he’s seen me do,” White said. “Then he would show me a play of Arkansas or Houston. Just one of the teams he’s coached doing that same play. So he would compare me to his other quarterbacks. That was cool being able to be able to spend that time with him.”
White said Briles explained to him his offense isn’t built for just one particular style quarterback.
“He talked about Feleipe Franks and KJ Jefferson like two totally different type of players but they were both successful because we adapted to their skill sets,” White said. “He said with this offense we can do the with any quarterback and he also mentioned another guy who was 5-10 that played at Houston and he was really successful under that system.”
White talked about the difference in camping at Arkansas under Briles last year compared to this year.
“Understanding their personalities and how they coach and their ways of coaching,” White said. “Just knowing them more and then going to work with them. It’s more comforting. It was really fun working with him just because he pushes me and he expects a lot out of me.”
In addition to meeting with Briles, White got to spend about a half hour with Pittman.
“It was really good,” White said. “He was just saying how much he liked me and how much they want me to come and be the quarterback for Arkansas.”
In addition to Arkansas, White has offers to Virginia, Ole Miss, Syracuse, Mississippi State, Louisville, Pitt, West Virginia, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Missouri, Arkansas State, Kansas State, TCU, Wisconsin, LSU, Illinois, Florida, Tulsa and UCA.
Having this many options with more certain to come is great for White, but did admit one drawback.
“The only overwhelming part of it is just figuring out the ones that I like,” White said. “Some of them are far away. So just trying to plan around that. Especially visits because I can’t make that trip everyday Obviously the trio to Ole Miss and Arkansas [are close] but ones to Florida and Pittsburgh, Louisville those are ones. I’ve seen Florida but Pittsburgh and Louisville I would love to see, but I can’t always make those type of trips so the only overwhelming part. Just the planning part but honestly it’s been pretty smooth. It’s been pretty easy. I’ve been able to tell which schools I have an attraction to.”
White has a timeline in matter to make a decision.
“By the end of July I’ll have it narrowed down and then from there,” White said. “It’s going to be like I’m going to be spending time with my team getting though my junior season and hopefully committing by December 14th or February 1st. I want to commit before my senior year so I can start recruiting for that class. Try to get some other athletes to come with me.”
As a sophomore, White completed 129 of 238 passes for 2,020 yards and 23 touchdowns. He rushed 92 times for 487 yards and five touchdowns.
On June 3, White was named the MVP at Ole Miss Camp. He ran a 4.55, vertical jumped 35.4 and broad jumped 10’4″.