Kevin White trained with Giants' Odell Beckham Jr. in offseason
West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White celebrates following a touchdown during an NCAA football game. Credit: Getty Images / Stacy Revere
CHICAGO -- If the Giants select wide receiver Kevin White in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday, at least he'll already know someone on his new team.
White, from West Virginia, has been one of the fastest climbers in the pre-draft process after a strong Combine performance and is a possibility for the Giants with the ninth overall selection.
He said that would be fine with him because he got to train with last year's Giants first-rounder, Odell Beckham Jr., in Arizona this offseason.
"He was a cool guy," White said of Beckham, the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year. "He gave me advice, what to do, what not to do, told us how the NFL structures itself. Gave us little words of encouragement."
White visited the Giants, too, so he's at least had the idea planted in his head about how he would work in their offense lined up alongside Beckham, Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle and catching passes from Eli Manning.
"I think I would fit in pretty good being a deep threat, going up for jump balls," he said. "I think it would work. I think it would work. I would just want to get in there and do what I had to do to be a starter. Nothing is going to be given to me no matter how high I go or how low I go. I have to earn my stripes, so, that's what I'm going to do."
It's unlikely that will happen, though. White said he sees himself going to the Bears at No. 7. And NFL Network's Mike Mayock said teams should be wary of college's "one-year wonders" such as White was (although the Giants had pretty good luck with such a player in Jason Pierre-Paul).
White also is one of two wide receivers projected high in the first round, along with Alabama's Amari Cooper. He noted that Beckham was not the first receiver picked in last year's draft (Sammy Watkins was).
As for the advice Beckham gave White, it had to do with his attitude more than anything.
"He said just go in there and work, don't be like some guys who do different things off the field," White said. "Be ready for the challenge because it is hard with all of this [media and attention] going on and then having to go to camp. He just said things like that."
Perhaps he'll say more if they wind up as teammates.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
