White gets a taste of the South

Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge tight end Aron White hasn't had a hard time finding something to do with his time this summer thus far. The 6-foot-4, 213-pound White now has over 20 scholarship offers to his credit, and he's taking advantage of the opportunity to see as many of those schools as possible in person.

"In the last week and a half or so, my mom and I visited Georgia Tech, Georgia, South Carolina, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest and Vandy," White said. "I've also visited Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa and Missouri in the past. I'm also interested in seeing schools like Arizona State, Stanford, Cal, Colorado, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan State."

Georgia Tech was White's first stop on his recent tour of the Southeast, and he liked what he found in Atlanta.

"The thing that stood out the most to me at Georgia Tech was their campus," he said. "The school is in the middle of Atlanta, but you'd never know it while you're on campus. Everything is upscale and brand new. Their coaches said they like me as a tight end and an H-back. They'd flex me out at times and line me up at tight end at times."

White, who grabbed 36 passes for 621 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior, then made the short trip from Atlanta to Athens to check out the Georgia Bulldogs.

"Georgia is the only school recruiting me as a wide receiver. I liked their coaches a whole lot. Coach (Mike) Bobo showed us around, and we met with coach (Mark) Richt, too. We didn't get to meet the wide receiver coach, though. Georgia has nice facilities, and they really impressed me with the academic support they provide their athletes on a day to day basis."

White, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, also came away happy with what he found in Columbia, S.C.

"South Carolina's stadium is ridiculously huge, and the facilities we saw were nice, too, especially their new weight room. We met with coach (Fred) Chatham and coach (Steve) Spurrier while we were there. Coach Spurrier was just saying he'd love to have a tight end like me so he could go vertical and stretch the field. He thought I would fit in nicely in their offense."

White, who turned in 19 repetitions of 185 pounds on the bench press at the Gainesville NIKE Camp, is looking for a variety of things at the college of his choice.

"Academics are very important to me," he said. "I don't just want to be looked at as an athlete but also a real college student. I want to find a coaching staff that I click with and feel completely comfortable with. I'll also look closely at the kind of offense I'll be a part of. I don't mind blocking at all, but I don't just want to block. I want to know I'll be a big part of the passing game, too. Campus life will also play a big role in my decision."

White will refrain from naming any favorites until the end of the summer.

"I don't want to say any teams stand out until I take all of my visits and see what all the schools have to offer. I'd like to narrow my list to three teams by the end of the summer. If not three, then five. Then I'll take my official visits early in my season and then make my choice. I want to have it out of the way by the time district play rolls around so I can concentrate completely on our season."

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