2018 NFL Draft Profile: Mike White, Western Kentucky, QB

Mike White

College: Western Kentucky

Position: Quarterback

Height/Weight: 6’4”/225 pounds

College Stats: 863 completions on 1,393 attempts, 1,1262 passing yards, 62% completion percentage, 74 TDs, 31 interceptions, 142.9 passer rating.

After transferring to WKU from South Florida in 2015, Mike White’s 2016 junior campaign under then head coach Jeff Brohm (now at Purdue) became the one that will probably define his college career. Following in the footsteps of another now-professional quarterback Brandon Doughty, White and the Hilltopper offense mostly cruised to their second straight Conference USA championship that year. In 2017, Mike Sanford Jr. took the reigns of the team and the offense wasn’t quite the same, but White showed once again what a stellar passer he is (when he actually had time to throw). Now, he has a very good chance of showing what he can do at the professional level.

Pros:

White is a gunslinger. When he sets up in the pocket, he’s truly as good a passer as any quarterback in this draft. During that 2016 season, he finished in the top ten in FBS in pass completion percentage, passing yards, passing yards per attempt, and passing touchdowns. He was also in the top 15 in overall completions. When you throw to guys like Taywan Taylor, Lucky Jackson, and Nacarius Fant, you get pretty good at throwing a deep ball and that’s one of the big things scouts noticed about him at the combine. But White isn’t just a long ball guy. He can do quick hits and short routes as well and really spread the ball around, which makes him great for an uptempo offense.

Con:

He’s REALLY not a runner, which makes him a little one dimensional. Not only is he slow, his ball carrying could be better. He fumbled 12 times in 2017, which you can certainly partially blame on his abysmal offensive line. But here's the thing about the NFL: the defensive linemen are big, fast, and eventually going to tackle you. White needs to be prepared for that.

Who’s going to take him and where?

White strikes me as a guy that would make a great and effective second stringer right now. Who knows? Maybe after learning from a vet, in a couple years, he could get be handed the keys and become an NFL starter. That’s why places like the Patriots, Washington, and the Saints interest me. They have good, veteran quarterbacks at the helm right now. But how much do those guys really have left in the tank? For the sake of making predictions I’m going to say

Patriots in the fifth round