Walter Tychnowicz/CFL.ca
Some players talk about football being a war that is won in the trenches.
For Edmonton Eskimo running back John White, football is more like a game of chess. There are times White is willing to sacrifice a pawn early if it means flattening the opposing king later.
“The game is a chess match for me,” explained White. “I look at all four quarters, just weakening the other team play by play.”
At five-foot-eight and 186 pounds, White combines explosive power with turn-on-a dime speed. And like any chess master, he plots his strategy several moves at a time.
“I like to take the hit to the defender (early) and then make him think on the next run what they want to do,” said White. “It makes them kind of indecisive on what they want to do.
“That’s when I bring out my tools that are in my toolbox, the cut or a spin, whatever to get past a defender.”
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In three games this year for the Eskimos (2-1) White has rushed for 162 yards on 38 carries and two touchdowns. He also has 14 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Good, but White knows those numbers can get a lot better.
“There are small detail things I want to get better at,” he said.
After two productive CFL seasons with Edmonton White missed all of last year after suffering a ruptured left Achilles tendon during training camp.
For White, the physical part of rehabbing the injury wasn’t as difficult as dealing with the questions and doubts that swirled in his head.
“It was more mental than anything,” he said. “Convincing your mind that you are OK. Sometimes your foot might feel a little weaker or feel a little different than your other foot. It’s all mental.
“It was tough. I got my one cry in, then sucked it up.”
One positive about the year away was spending time at home in Long Beach, Calif., with his daughter Londyn, who turns two in December.
“It helped tremendously, watching her grow,” he said. “Just being there.
“A lot of football guys don’t get to spend those first few years with their child. Something is always going on with them.”
“It was more mental than anything . . . convincing your mind that you are OK.”
John White
The hardest part is over, but John White still faces hurdles on his comeback path (Walter Tychnowicz/CFL.ca)
When White returned to training camp this spring he felt healthy but needed to answer the nagging question about how well the Achilles had mended.
“Of course there was always a concern,” he said. “I just wanted to get that first hit out of the way. Once I got that first one, it was just cake from there.”
Tim Prinsen, Edmonton’s running backs coach, said the Eskimos didn’t rush White at training camp.
“The only thing we really did was manage his reps, make sure his volume early wasn’t too high, so he could get back into the swing of things slowly.
“Most athletes at this level have been through a recovery or two at some point in their career. It was more doing the right things to manage him and let him work his way back in slowly.”
Prinsen said as much as White likes punishing defenders, he’s also a patient back who waits for plays to develop.
“When he’s sure of his read, he hits the hole with a certain violence,” said the former Eskimo centre who won two Grey Cups in an eight-year CFL career with Edmonton and Hamilton. “He’s a violent runner, as he is with blocking.
“He’s got the ability to be a finesse runner too. He’s a very good zone runner. He’s patient enough to let the line establish their blocks. When the hole is there to hit, he hits it.”
White, a native of Torrance, Calif., first signed with the Eskimos in May of 2013. Over the next two seasons he rushed for 1,112 yards on 192 carries and three touchdowns. He also had 24 catches for 268 yards and three touchdowns.
In 2014 White was twice named a CFL Offensive Player of the Week. He also was a West Division and CFL All-Star.
White played his college football at Utah where in two seasons he set school records with 106.7 rushing yards a game and 14 career 100-yard games.
White’s injury meant he watched from the sidelines as the Eskimos defeated Ottawa to win the Grey Cup last November.
“Being there at the Grey Cup and not playing, it was bittersweet,” he said. “At the end of the day I am proud of my teammates.”
Being away from the game for a year also made White realize how much he loves playing.
“If I didn’t take everything so seriously before, I am taking it really serious now,” he said. “I’m a stickler for detail. If I mess up on something small, something that wouldn’t even matter to someone else, I take it big and put it on my shoulders and try to learn from it.
“Everything is a learning process. You can never learn too much.”
White is currently averaging 4.3 yards a carry and his longest run is 17 yards. Prinsen expects those numbers to improve as the season progresses.
“With each game played he gains more confidence,” said Prinsen. “With each game he’s seeing the field better.
“He really had a year off football so it’s going to take a little bit for him to get back into the swing of things. He doesn’t make the same mistake twice and he gets better every game. It’s encouraging to see that.”
White knows the Eskimos will face a challenge this week when they face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-2). The Tiger-Cat defence is second in the league in average points allowed (20.8) while leading the CFL in sacks (17) and forced turnovers (13).
“They have a very aggressive defence,” he said. “A lot of great guys on their defence that can make great plays.
“They thrive on turnovers. I feel like this game you have to bring the hits to them early, make them get of out their system.”
