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Up next in the 6-Pack Series is West Virginia's Kevin White. The wide receiver put up huge numbers last year, and now looks like he'll be a top-10 pick in the Draft. The Smoking Musket's Matt Kirchner (@MKirchner12) answered the 6-pack, and I came to find out, Matt's a big Browns fan as well.
Take it away, Matt!
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1. First of all, let the record show you're a WVU fan AND a Browns fan. How ecstatic would you be if the Browns somehow got Kevin White?
I'd be ecstatic, obviously. I've been waiting years for a quality WVU player to come around at a Browns position of need and give me some continuity between my two teams.
Kevin White would be the perfect storm of a replacement for Josh Gordon and potentially be his running mate out wide if Josh ever gets his head on straight. Adding that to some good veteran mentors like Dwayne Bowe and Brian Hartline, and Kevin could very well be a key piece in getting the Browns offense where it needs to be.
He still needs someone to throw to him so that's why we trade #19 for Geno Smi-----GUYS IT'S A JOKE PUT THOSE GUNS DOWN.
2. Amari Cooper was long considered the best WR prospect in the class, however, the gap appears to be closing since the Combine. How close is White to Cooper now?
I've been of the opinion for a while now that Cooper/White/Parker are 1A, 1B, and 1C for this draft. Get me whoever (if any) is left at 12 and I'll be completely content with the pick. Cooper and White are very, very, slightly above Parker to me.
If you put a gun to my head and make me pick a "best" receiver out of the three, I would still grade Amari slightly higher than Kevin, mostly by virtue of a longer, consistent career. I watched Kevin up close, and he's absolutely an insane talent, but one year wonder wide receivers are still slightly scary. It's just an undeniable truth.
3. Furthermore re: Cooper v. White; he may not have the polish Cooper has, but many believe White has the highest upside. Do you agree with that?
I'd say yes to that. Amari Cooper is great, but Kevin White's ceiling is so high that it's ridiculous. The man looked like a gigantic bird of prey playing wide receiver all season long. The Baylor game is probably my favorite bit of tape on Kevin. He was catching one-handed TDs with DBs committing pass interference on every single one.
When he put out that 40 number at the combine [4.35 official], I almost fainted. He has every physical tool that you'd want in a receiver, but like you said, he's not quite polished yet. He played two years at WVU--one painfully average and one unbelievably outstanding. A lot of that came down to a quarterback dumpster fire in his first year, and I believe he's really the player we saw last year, but there's going to be a slightly bigger NFL learning curve with White than there is with Cooper.
4. He has the desired height, speed, strength, size, etc. What's his biggest deficiency and/or weakness?
I'd say route running, and that goes back to the polish thing from earlier. Mario Alford, our other star senior WR from last season, said that he runs better routes than Kevin and I'd agree. He's not quite as crisp as he needs to be, but that's something that you would hope gets better with both coaching, and again being around quality vets like Bowe and Hartline.
After his junior year, I would have said that drops were a problem, but he completely killed that off between 2013 and 2014. It was a really good sign to me, and one that means he's going to be very receptive with coaching and recognizing where he needs to improve.
5. I've sen comparisons anywhere from DeAndre Hopkins to a bigger Steve Smith, to even Dez Bryant or Larry Fitzgerald. Whose game does White's remind you of the most?
I'd probably say Julio Jones is a good comparison. He's got similar size, hands, and game breaking ability.
Maybe the Browns will actually take him if he's on the board. (That's kind of a joke, I guess. Big Phil forever.)
6. Ultimately, it's likely he'll be gone by the time the Browns draft, but where do you think he'll end up being drafted?
You're right in that he's probably gone. I'd love for him to be there at 12, but I'm pretty much braced for the reality that he won't be.
I'm not quite buying into the #4 to Oakland theory, but I think that #7 to the Bears is a good spot where he would be a replacement for Brandon Marshall. If he gets past Chicago, I start to consider packaging 12 and some later round picks to move up. I don't think he gets beyond #10 to St. Louis where they are clearly ready to build the Kevin White-Stedman Bailey-Tavon Austin WR corps of my dreams.
Thanks for having me contribute to this series, I'm a big reader (and occasional commentator) on DBN, and I love the community. Let's all get excited to see some leaked uniforms tonight.
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I'll be continuing this series with some further prospects the Browns have either been linked to, or show up frequently in mock drafts. If there's anyone you all think would be interesting to have the collegiate blog's perspective, feel free to shoot me a note, or let us know in the comments!