KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White is back home in Kansas City.
He attended Center High School, which is about 15 minutes away from Arrowhead Stadium.
In fact, Monday night’s game will be the first time White steps foot in the venue.
His high school coach, Bryan DeLong, has some special memories of White from his time at Center.
“It was a little different when Rachaad played here,” DeLong said “He was out here on natural grass. He was a playmaker, obviously offense is what he’s doing now, but he was a great player on defense for us as well. He was a team captain, a leader. We didn’t get him off the field very often.”
White is now in his third NFL season with the Bucs. A third-round pick in 2022, he took an unusual and unlikely path to the NFL. White did not have a single Division-I offer.
“I wasn’t highly-recruited out of high school,” White told ABC Action News. “I feel like I did my best, I did everything I could to help lead, and leave my mark. I think I did that.”
“Center is a smaller school. He got overlooked,” DeLong added. “When they recruited him, a lot of schools wanted him to play safety. He was a great safety but he wanted to play offense. He found somewhere to go. You know his story. He went there.”
As a senior in 2017, White totaled more than 2,000 yards of offense, earning his first-team Class 3 All-State selection.
His college career began at Nebraska-Kearny, then a transfer to Mt. San Antonio College and finally to Arizona State.
“You know his story, going to JUCO, living with eight guys in his apartment, and really betting on himself,” DeLong said. "It’s really a true American success story. It parlays his family, and his mother Rochelle, raising the four boys.”
Now, White can put on a show in front of friends and family.
“Just to be able to go back and a lot of my friends, and a lot of the people I grew up with, family, to see me in person at the highest level of what I always dreamed of,” White said. “They believed in me, and for them to see me on that stage, especially on Monday night is huge.”
“(I want to see) about seven touchdowns by Rachaad,” DeLong said. “I love the Chiefs. Don’t get me wrong, Kansas City guy. But, I’d take a loss Monday. It’s Rachaad. That’s family."
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