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College Football

LSU football: Linebacker Devin White is the next great Tiger

Les East

By Les East

Published:

LSU linebacker Devin White owns seven horses.

Six are housed at his family’s farm in Cotton Valley, La. The seventh (Daisy Mae) lives just a mile from the LSU campus.

But make no mistake about it, White is the biggest thoroughbred in the family.

He led the SEC in tackles a sophomore last season (133), the first LSU player to do so in more than 30 years.

He’s also on the preseason watch lists for seemingly every major award for which he is eligible – the Nagursky Trophy (top defensive player), the Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year) and the Butkus Award (best linebacker).

And White’s contributions to the Tigers transcend his ability to make tackles.

“He’s a tremendous young man with tremendous character,” coach Ed Orgeron said. “He leads the locker room.”

Orgeron cited the way White, defensive lineman Rashard Lawrence and others stepped forward to get the team back on track last season in the wake of a shocking loss to Troy that dropped LSU to 3-2 and threatened to unravel the season. The Tigers won six of their next seven games before losing to Notre Dame in the Citrus Bowl.

“He’s the reason we got to turn around our season last year, along with his teammates,” Orgeron said. “He’s prepared to do it this year. Devin is ready to lead this team to great things.”

The Springhill, La., native was remarkably consistent last season, even as opponents became progressively more attentive to him as the tackles added up. White tied the school record for games with at least 10 tackles (eight) and he set a conference record by being named SEC Defensive Player of the Week four times.

White demonstrated his appreciation for LSU history and tradition when he had his picture taken with Tigers legend Billy Cannon at the spring game. When Cannon passed away a few weeks later, White changed his Twitter avatar to that photograph.

He tweeted, “God gained a humble angel. Many accolades that he accomplished during his time at LSU was amazing, but the character that Mr. Cannon showed was unbelievable. Prayers to the entire LSU & Cannon FAMILY #20”

White isn’t a two-way player with the Tigers the way Cannon was, but he was in high school. In addition to playing linebacker at North Webster High School, as a senior White rushed for 31 touchdowns and 1,650 yards on 208 carries and also caught 12 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

He finished his high-school career with 5,031 rushing yards and 81 touchdowns.

Despite all of White’s accolades, all eyes have been on the quarterback battle during LSU’s preseason camp.

It started as a four-man competition. Now it’s down to a two-man competition.

Either Joe Burrow or Myles Brennan will win the competition, grab the most headlines and become the face of the 2018 Tigers.

But as far as marquee players go, no one on this team can match White.

He knows the defense is expected to be the strength of this year’s team and might have to carry a young offense at least early in the season.

“We want to get the ball to our offense, so they can make a lot of plays,” White said. “We want to pride ourselves on takeaways and being dominant for four quarters. You never know what’s going to happen in a game, so you never want to leave with that extra inch out there.

“The extra inch can lose or win you the game. We want to play the last snap like it’s the first snap. The same amount of energy and enthusiasm the whole game.”

Just like a thoroughbred.

 

Les East

Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.

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