High School Sports
Posted: 12/02/2011 12:00 AM
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With legs of oak and a sturdy 6-foot, 200-pound frame, Marcus White looks like another of Pleasant Grove High School’s standout football players.
White, a senior wide receiver and safety, loves to catch passes, tackle and hit.
But it’s unlikely the three-year varsity player will catch a pass or make a tackle when the Eagles play Granite Bay for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I championship at 1 p.m. Saturday at Sacramento State.
Still, he could have a big impact.
White is one of the state’s top kickers and punters.
He leads the state by far with 91 touchbacks in 105 attempts, and he averages more than 40 yards a punt, including a best of 84 yards. Because of Pleasant Grove’s potent offense, he has only three field goals.
White is a prep combination of Raiders special-teams stars Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler.
“At our level, the ability to put the ball in the end zone on kickoffs is such a momentum killer,” said Pleasant Grove coach Joe Cattolico. “When someone has just scored on you, the mindset is: ‘We’re going to get a good kickoff return and come back on you.’ So it’s a little bit of a deflator when there is no chance for a return.”
Adds senior quarterback Cody Demps: “He definitely gives us a little juice every time he kicks it in the end zone. It really helps our defense.”
Even though White hails from a football family – his grandfather, Roger White, played defensive end and split end on UCLA’s 1954 national championship team, and his father, Russ White, was a tight end at UC Davis – soccer was the game for young Marcus. White was an outstanding club player through his junior year before putting the sport on hiatus.
He tried football as a freshman at Christian Brothers, where he was a captain and the team’s top wide receiver. He kicked extra points and became the team’s punter when a teammate was injured during the season.
But White planned to put the football cleats away to devote himself to club and high school soccer after transferring from CBS to Pleasant Grove before his sophomore season.
The plan was short-lived.
Cattolico needed a kicker and persuaded White to try being a specialist.
White had such a successful season – he kicked three field goals in the Eagles’ last two playoff games – that he decided he wanted to do more than kick.
“He’s been a full-time football player the last two seasons,” Cattolico said. “He’s very athletic, and we probably should have played him more at wide receiver and in our secondary. But he’s such a weapon as a kicker. We were a little worried about getting him hurt.”
It won’t be because he’s fragile. Whereas punters and kickers stereotypically are soft, non-contact types, White works hard in the weight room.
He’s part of a new breed of kicker, much like New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford, whose muscular physique graces the cover of this month’s Men’s Fitness magazine.
“I’ve put on 60 pounds since my sophomore year,” said White, who squats 450 pounds. “We’ve got some pretty big guys who are really strong, but I can hold my own.”
Arik Armstead, Pleasant Grove’s 6-8, 280-pound national recruit, is proud of White.
“He does good in the weight room,” Armstead said. “He’s in there every day lifting with us. He’s dedicated.”
D.J. Dunn, the Eagles’ stellar 6-3, 220-pound linebacker, admires White’s work ethic, though he isn’t above poking fun at his friend.
“He’s definitely not your scrawny-kicker type,” Dunn said, smiling. “He’s more a Janikowski type. I’ll call him a little big, a little fat, just to fool around with him, and he’ll lift his shirt and show a couple of ‘packs.’ “
White insists his physique is a little better than that.
“I have a six pack, but it’s not as nice as D.J. Dunn’s,” White said, laughing. “He’s got the football body. He’s really ripped.”
As a freshman, White envisioned a college soccer scholarship. He still wants a scholarship, but now the Delta River League Special Teams Player of the Year hopes to land one in football.
While Cattolico says kickers usually have to walk on and prove themselves before earning a scholarship, White might be an exception.
“He’s definitely got a lot of interest from a lot of people,” Cattolico said.
White said because of his academic success – he has a 4.2 grade-point average – he has offers from Division III schools Johns Hopkins and Azusa Pacific. He also has walk-on offers from Washington State and San Diego State, though a D-I scholarship is the goal.
“I’m hoping to have something nailed down by signing day in February,” White said.
