Caption
Close
Albany
A month after playing in the Rose Bowl, University at Albany defensive tackle Antoine White is getting settled into unfamiliar surroundings.
White, a communications major, began classes last week and ran a conditioning test with his Great Danes teammates.
“Everything seems new to me,” White said. “It’s a good feeling, especially with the group of guys I’m working with, especially with me coming in as a transfer and coming in mid-year. A lot of guys have helped show me the ropes around Albany football.”
White, who spent the past three seasons at Penn State, is a member of the 16-player recruiting class that UAlbany announced Wednesday on National Signing Day. He’ll be a redshirt junior next season and is eligible to play immediately.
His final game for the Nittany Lions came in a 52-49 loss to USC before a crowd of 95,128 in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2. He played in a reserve role and didn’t make a tackle.
“It was definitely a surreal moment,” White said. “That’s a classic game. Just to be with that team and how that season went and just to be playing in that arena and surrounded by those types of fans, it’s crazy. It’s two of the iconic programs in college football. And I’d never been to California, either. So that was nice.”
UAlbany 2017 recruiting class
Name Pos. Height Weight Hometown
Daniel Banks DB 5-9 164 Macedonia, Ohio
Zac Barnard LB 6-3 230 Atco, N.J.
Damon Burton LB 5-9 182 Rochester
Eric Carter OL 6-3 270 Jersey City, N.J.
Danny Damico LB 6-2 230 Manlius
Jerod Diggs WR 5-11 188 Washington, D.C.
Anthony Lang DL 6-3 227 Jamaica
Karl Mofor RB 5-8 211 Greenbelt, Md.
Ryan Solt OL 6-2 284 Hardin, Pa.
Marquis Thornes WR 6-3 184 Baltimore, Md.
Hunter Verdi OL 6-4 335 Plantsville, Conn.
Zach Verdi DL 6-1 256 Plantsville, Conn.
Justin Walker LB 6-0 219 Bayonne, N.J.
Mazon Walker DL 5-9 287 Huber Heights, Ohio
Isaiah Watson DE/LB 6-3 220 Egg Harbor City, N.J.
Antoine White DL 6-2 286 Millville, N.J.
White said he didn’t know for certain at the time he would leave Penn State. He went home to Millville, N.J., afterward and spoke with his family.
He sought more playing time after coming off the bench in all 14 games last season. White, who is 6-foot-2 and 286 pounds, made 17 tackles with 11/2 sacks and one quarterback hurry.
“For me, it was a combination of things,” White said. “I wanted to be able to get a little more exposure for myself and help the team. I felt like matadorbet giriş if I were to go anywhere, I wanted to keep my academics the same, and this school offered me great academics, the same as I had there. I know some of the guys on the (UAlbany) staff now, so I felt comfortable making this move.”
UAlbany head coach Greg Gattuso and defensive assistant Keith Dudzinski were both on the Maryland staff when they tried to recruit White to play there a few years ago. Gattuso is also a former Penn State defensive tackle who played on the 1982 national championship team.
“We think he can make a massive impact for us,” Gattuso said. “He’s a great get for us. He’s a great football player. He was a three-star (recruit) out of high school. He had all the schools along the East Coast (interested). I think he had about 18 to 20 (big-school) offers. … He wants to play and he wants to be the guy, so he decided he was going to look elsewhere to play.”
White said he chose to move down to the Football Championship Subdivision so he’d be able to play right away. He would have had to sit out a year in accordance with NCAA rules if he’d transferred to another Football Bowl Subdivision program. And he would have only one year of eligibility left because he’d already redshirted as a Penn State freshman.
He’ll play his home games at 8,500-seat Casey Stadium, a whole different world from the 100,000-plus fans who packed Beaver Stadium to watch the Nittany Lions. He won’t be playing on ABC or ESPN. But he said the preparation and team camaraderie are similar.
“I think that all comes down to what type of person you are and how much you actually care about the game and the work that you put into it,” White said. “From here to there, there’s a team that wants to win and there’s coaches that want to help the players win. … It’s an adjustment, a change, but I don’t think it’s much of a dropoff coming here.”
He is one of four midyear transfers that Gattuso is hoping will make an immediate impact. The others are offensive tackle Eric Carter of Monroe Junior College and wide receiver Jerod Diggs and linebacker Justin Walker, both of Lackawanna College.
Note: UAlbany still hasn’t released its 2017 schedule. The Great Danes are trying to finalize their Colonial Athletic Association game against Elon, scheduled for Sept. 30 in North Carolina. New York bans all non-essential state travel to that state because of North Carolina’s House Bill 2, which stipulates transgender people must use public bathrooms corresponding with their birth gender. UAlbany associate athletic director Charlie Voelker said the university’s legal counsel is working with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office to find a solution.
msingelais@timesunion.com • 518-454-5509 • @MarkSingelais
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
