{"id":63638,"date":"2018-04-20T06:54:55","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T06:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63638"},"modified":"2018-04-20T06:54:56","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T06:54:56","slug":"meet-the-quarterback-recruit-who-chose-princeton-over-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/meet-the-quarterback-recruit-who-chose-princeton-over-alabama.html","title":{"rendered":"Meet the quarterback recruit who chose Princeton over Alabama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet the quarterback recruit who chose Princeton over Alabama<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s hard to be miserable in Cancun, especially when you\u2019re in the Mexican resort city for your 18th birthday, as Brevin White was in late July of 2017. But surrounded by family and friends, shimmering water and sandy beaches, White was just that: miserable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or uptight, maybe. Stressed. He was making his family miserable, at least. The four-star quarterback from Paraclete High School, located in this charter city in the Antelope Valley of Southern California, was constantly checking his phone in search of updates from his future college program of choice \u2014 awaiting word from the head coach that he\u2019d been accepted into the school, which would free him to make his non-binding verbal commitment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The call came on July 25, with White in a hotel room with his parents and the coach on speakerphone to break the news: You\u2019re approved. We\u2019re ready whenever you want to make the next step. White looked at his parents. Let\u2019s do it, he said. I want to commit right now. Then, in true Cancun fashion, the family celebrated at Senor Frogs, that ubiquitous warm-weather chain of party-hard restaurants.<\/span><\/p>\n

The school? Princeton. No, not Southern California or UCLA, two schools within 90 minutes of Lancaster, nor another program along the West Coast. Not to a program in the Big Ten Conference, the Big 12 Conference, any league in the Power Five \u2014 White committed to the Ivy League, which has produced 15 Presidents yet only six first-round NFL draft picks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI finally had the world\u2019s weight lifted off me,\u201d White said. \u201cA lot of people aren\u2019t able to pass up on opportunities that come. It was hard for me to turn down schools and wait for the right opportunity to come and the right school to come around. But ultimately it did, and it paid off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

SPRING PREVIEWS: ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | Pac-12 | SEC I American | C-USA | Independents | Mountain West<\/span><\/p>\n

YOUNG GUN: Talk of USC’s spring practice is quarterback still in high school<\/span><\/p>\n

It already was one of the more distinctive stories of this or any recent recruiting cycle: White was a consensus four-star recruit, one of just a handful at the position in his recruiting class, and your random top-flight quarterback recruit will always go for glitz and glamour over an Ivy League institution\u2019s classical education.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Alabama called, and things got interesting. For another recruit, maybe, a late scholarship offer from Alabama would alter the equation in one way \u2014 making the prospect consider the fit, the coaching staff and the opportunity. For White, the offer led to a question unique to his recruitment: Do I attend the top business school in the country or play for the nation\u2019s top football program, maybe the greatest dynasty in the sport\u2019s history?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI committed a while ago, but the whole story blew up with the whole Alabama thing,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody just turns down Alabama like that. If the No. 1 football school in the country is after you, you\u2019re going to show them the love back. So I was interested.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The first rush of calls from the Alabama coaching staff began in the week leading into the Crimson Tide\u2019s matchup with Clemson in the Sugar Bowl, with defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi following up those calls with an in-home visit with White and his family in early January. A second visit followed, along with more calls, and Lupoi convinced White to take an official visit to Tuscaloosa on the first weekend of February.<\/span><\/p>\n

MORE: Police investigation into tweets aimed at Jim Harbaugh continues<\/span><\/p>\n

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MORE: Chip Kelly is back on campus but can he recapture magic at UCLA?<\/span><\/p>\n

He was hosted by sophomore Tua Tagovailoa, the hero of Alabama\u2019s championship-game win against Georgia. He took note of the waterfall, the support system for academics, the facilities, even the new dining center currently in construction. On his first full night on campus, his mother attended a cocktail party at the Saban residence and saw Saban do the \u201cwobble.\u201d White watched Alabama take on Oklahoma in basketball.<\/span><\/p>\n

He drew formations and plays for the Alabama coaching staff. They\u2019d ask for his favorite play; he\u2019d go up to the board and map it out. During a dinner hosted on the suite level of Bryant-Denny Stadium, White, a fan of country music, was walking past the 50-yard line when Sweet Home Alabama came on the loudspeakers. He got chills.<\/span><\/p>\n

That Sunday morning, White went to Saban\u2019s home with the six other recruits on campus and toured the property \u2014 checking out the palatial estate, its bevy of Mercedes and off-road golf carts. Saban pulled him aside. We want you to enroll on Feb. 12, he said, in eight days.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re feeling good about yourself when you\u2019re driving to the Birmingham airport,\u201d White said. \u201cMy expectations were as high as expectations could go. And they still were shattered. Alabama was just a whole other level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the first time White had been tempted by a scholarship offer. He was offered before his sophomore year by Arizona State, where his brother, Brady, played before transferring to Memphis, and gave the Sun Devils heavy consideration. Likewise with Washington. Minnesota and head coach P.J. Fleck made a furious push for White last fall, even drawing a visit for the Golden Gophers\u2019 win against Nebraska. Alabama was different, White admitted.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he stuck with his commitment to Princeton. After returning home from his Alabama visit, White mapped out the plusses and minuses for each school. Princeton had the education; Alabama the football program. The Ivy League afforded network opportunities; the Crimson Tide had their straight line to national championships and the NFL. He asked himself: What checks the most boxes for me?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBrevin is going to be successful wherever he goes,\u201d said Paraclete High School principal John Anson. \u201cWhat a level-headed, great kid to be able to put it into perspective like that. I think he\u2019s really at peace with that. He could go play anywhere. He certainly has that skill set. But I think that he really valued the word that he gave, and he didn\u2019t want to go back on that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

White spoke with former Princeton quarterback Jason Garrett, the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, who eased his nerves in one respect: If you\u2019re good enough, the NFL will find you. The league found me, he said. That, combined with the doors opened by a Princeton degree \u2014 White spoke of a \u201c40-year plan\u201d as a factor in his decision \u2014 convinced him to stick with Princeton.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how this unique recruitment played out: White will enroll this summer as one of five quarterbacks on Princeton\u2019s roster, and the only one who could have gone anywhere, including the top program in the country, but chose the Ivy League.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBoth schools are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Not a lot of people get to visit Alabama, let alone play football there. Not a lot of people get accepted into Princeton and get to have that experience there and play football,\u201d said White. \u201cAt the end of the day, it was Princeton. I just knew that Princeton was still where I wanted to be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/ncaaf\/2018\/04\/19\/qb-recruit-who-chose-princeton-over-alabama-brevin-white\/533412002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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