Tim White isn’t sure exactly who put the No. 6 jersey in his locker at Baltimore Ravens training camp. But he sure knows what it means to him.
“Once I saw it in my locker, I was like, ‘Man, it’s definitely time,’” White said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I understand it’s not an NFL receivers number. But to be back in that No. 6, representing when I was with Hart (High) and when I was with (College of the Canyons), that’s something that I couldn’t ask for.
“I’m glad to be back in the number, and I have to represent.”
Through the first few weeks of training camp, White has reeled off one highlight play after another. At one practice, he hauled in a leaping one-handed catch. At another, he caught a long touchdown and performed a standing backflip near the back of the end zone.
On one other occasion, he so juked a teammate that the defender toppled over and White hurdled him.
The Ravens’ official website responded with a headline that tabbed White as a “Human Highlight Reel.”
“It made me feel good,” White said of the headline. “It made me feel like I was being noticed for something that I feel like I’ve always been throughout my football career. Just being noticed at the highest level as a ‘human highlight reel,’ whether it’s in practice or in a walkthrough, is something to feel good about.”
Others are taking notice, too.
“He has done a good job in camp,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said last week, according to BaltimoreRavens.com. “Today, I thought he had a really good day. He really lit it up a little bit, didn’t he? To see a guy jump out like that in this kind of environment was pretty eye-opening. He has had a solid camp up until this point.”
According to an early depth chart released by the Ravens, White is hardly a lock to make the team, though.
He’s listed under “other” at wide receiver, with at least six guys ahead of him. He isn’t listed on the special teams chart despite practicing as a punt and kick returner.
Still, White is confident he’ll be on the team when NFL rosters drop from 90 players to 53 after the preseason.
“I just want to keep it going and just keep being myself,” said White, who transferred from COC to Arizona State after the 2014 season.
There he compiled 3,381 all-purpose yards in two years. He caught 113 passes for 1,345 yards and 10 touchdowns.
In April’s NFL Draft, he went undrafted, but, frankly, he didn’t mind. He had a good idea he wouldn’t be picked, and he saw Baltimore as an ideal situation because of its culture, its proximity to family in New Jersey (his mother’s seven sisters live there) and how he saw himself fitting in on the roster.
More specifically, as far as the culture, he felt Baltimore conducted itself a little like Hart High.
“It was real strict in certain ways, you know,” he said.
Baltimore opens its preseason slate tonight against the Washington Redskins at 4:30 PST.
