NFL Draft Profile: Keion White, EDGE, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
In this story:
Keion White
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
#6
Pos: EDGE
Ht: 6050
Wt: 285
Hand: 1018
Arm: 3400
Wing: 7958
40: 4.75
DOB: 1/20/1999
Hometown: Garner, NC
High School: Garner
Eligibility: 2023
One Liner:
White offers flashes of greatness with his combination of speed, upper body strength, and arm length, but the college football veteran lacks technical development and consistency across the board.
Evaluation:
White primarily aligns as a 4 or 5-tech. He also took a handful of snaps at 2 and 3-tech in 2022, but that’s not a role he’ll play significant snaps at when he reaches the NFL. White is experienced rushing from two and three-point stances. He has nearly 400 special teams snaps under his belt split between the kick return, kick coverage, punt return, field goal, and field goal block units. White has NFL-caliber arm length and elite linear speed for his size. He plays with a hot motor and is relentless in pursuit. Georgia Tech asked White to cover a few wheel routes in 2022, and he had the speed to stick with much smaller, more agile running backs mostly. The Old Dominion transfer is quick off the line with impressive acceleration. As a pass rusher, he pushes vertically before attacking the tackle’s inside shoulder. He uses his upper body strength to soften the tackle’s outside shoulder. White deploys two-armed bull rushes, long-arm rushes, swims, spins, and push-pull moves with varying degrees of success. He also dips under the tackle on outside rushes to establish leverage and attempt to turn the corner. White uses his powerful swipes to generate separation and redirect to the football. He shows urgency and closing burst in pursuit. The former tight end’s speed lets him chase down near-side runs to the sideline. He made multiple nice plays beating Georgia (2022) right tackle Warren McClendon across his face in run defense. White also successfully got his hands into Georgia left tackle Broderick Jones’ chest and beat him to the rush apex twice. White is highly inexperienced despite being an older prospect. He played fewer than 700 defensive snaps over the past three years, and it shows in his inconsistent technique. The redshirt senior appears much leaner than his listed weight suggests, which negatively impacts his ability to reduce inside. White has slow feet and lacks impressive bend. His pad level rises quickly, and he allows offensive linemen into his frame. The former two-star recruit found himself finished to the ground several times in 2022 because of poor pad level and questionable balance. His heavy reliance on inside rushes makes him predictable, and he failed to adjust when offensive linemen began anticipating his rush plan. White’s spin move is slow and mechanical. His ability to execute pass rush moves and carry out a pass rush plan is inconsistent at best. He needs to learn to convert speed to power. White doesn’t consistently generate displacement. He gets caved in against the run and frequently surrenders outside rush lanes. White lacks the anchor to play inside, struggles to man his gap, doesn’t set hard edges, and is displaced by double teams. He posted significantly more losses than wins against Broderick Jones, Warren McClendon, and Devin Willock in the Georgia game.
Grade:
4th Round
Background:
Originally from Garner, North Carolina. He attended Garner High School and was rated as a two-star prospect by 247Sports. Started his college career at Old Dominion University. Decided to redshirt his first year. As a redshirt freshman, played tight end and started in eight games. During redshirt sophomore year, made the transition to defensive end and started all twelve games. He finished the season with 62 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Transferred to Georgia Tech prior 2021 season. As a redshirt junior, he missed the majority of the season due to injury and only played in four games. Had a fantastic redshirt senior season, finishing with 54 total tackles and 7.5 sacks.
