Senior wide receiver Kentrell White committed on July 4 to play DI college football at Auburn University, under Head Coach Hugh Freeze.
White has started on varsity since his freshman year, is listed as a 3-star recruit on ESPN and has attracted interest from Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt and other universities. Auburn plays in the Southeastern Conference, one of the premier conferences in college football, and has a deeply rooted football culture. White decided on Auburn after exposure to other schools.
“I felt like it was the best choice, the best suited to me, out of all the schools I talked to,” White said.
White led the Knights in receiving yards during his sophomore and junior years, and was the Knights’ only football player to receive First Team All-Region in 2024. White is currently the only Class of 2026 tight end committed to the Tigers, who are looking to build off of a 5-7 season.
Knights’ quarterback Noah Williams has played with White for four years, and sees him as a go-to target in any situation, trusting him in any down and distance.
“He’s somebody who’s reliable and makes plays in big times when you need big gains,” Williams said. “Whether it be 3rd and long, or we’re going on it on 4th down, he’ll make a grab.”
Head Coach Calvin Arnold praised White’s physical ability as one of his most important assets.
“I’ve seen over the past two years that he’s got the size, the speed, the ability to really change the game,” Arnold said.
Arnold also described White’s speed as an unexpected factor that opposing teams do not take into account when game planning against Midtown.
“His speed is one of those things that a lot of people and teams don’t know that he has,” Arnold said.
Since COVID-19, Midtown football has been marked by tumult and change, including a cancelled varsity season in 2021 and a different head coach every year the current seniors have played. White has weathered all of this and believes the constant changes have improved both him and his game.
“I like to go with the flow,” White said. “You never know what’s gonna change in the future so I went with it and it really paid off, having to be adaptable.”
White created a bond with Midtown and never truly wanted to transfer, like many recruited high school athletes want to do.
“I feel like I created a bond and a commitment to the school,” White said. “That I’ll stay here and keep going when the going gets tough.”
Williams said that White has brought the experience and has been an example to younger players as he has gone through the steps of the DI recruiting process.
“He’s really shown guys what’s possible,” Williams said. “Being around a guy who is DI and goes on visits shows dudes what happens when you put in the work and perform well out on the field, and I think having that around motivates guys at practice and walkthroughs and games to do better.”
White said his rec league coach has been one of the biggest guides for him in football, and they continued to work together through high school, providing a consistency in coaching even through constant change at Midtown.
“Coach Jude, my rec ball coach, had a huge impact on me,” White said. “We’ve been talking ever since middle school, even after I stopped playing rec ball, and through high school and he’s just been my guy throughout all this.”
White is graduating at the end of the fall semester so he can begin training at Auburn, with the eventual goal of playing professional football with an NFL team.
“I decided to graduate early so I can go ahead and get on that field at Auburn and get developed by the coaches there and hopefully be good to the point where I can make it to the League,” White said.
