Antioch's White is getting it right

Peer pressure gets a bad rap.

It isn't always a bad thing.

Antioch running back Cameron White found that out last winter.

When he was younger, he knew only the bad kind of peer pressure, the kind that could have easily prevented him from playing high school football in the first place.

Back then, when he was running with the wrong crowd, getting into trouble at school, making bad choices, he would have never guessed that peer pressure could also be an ally.

But, as it turns out, it has been.

The good kind of peer pressure has helped White take his game to the next level. And suddenly, he's not only one of the top running backs in Lake County, he's also one of the top running back prospects in the entire country.

We're talking possible Division I-A material here.

"He's that good," confirmed Antioch coach Brian Glashagel, who watched proudly as White needed just the first half against Grayslake Central last week to roll up 82 yards and 2 touchdowns on 8 carries.

"Cameron gets all of his mail directly now," Glashagel said. "But before we started doing that, my mailbox would be jammed every day with letters for him from college coaches."

Dozens of college coaches saw White at an invitation-only high school combine in San Antonio last January. Only 500 players from the entire country were selected to attend.

White's statistics from his junior year - mainly his 12 touchdowns, 11 yards per carry and his more than 1,100 rushing yards on the season - impressed the combine's gatekeepers. So did the highlight video of White that Glashagel put together.

It showed White at his best, slashing through defenses with lightning quick feet (4.6/40) and a razor sharp precision that comes from being blessed with uncanny field vision - the kind of vision that makes it seem like he has eyes on the back of his helmet.

"Coach set me up really good," said the 5-foot-9, 164-pound White. "I had never heard about the combine before he put all that stuff out there for me. But I was exited that I got to go."

White's excitement turned to nerves and then his nerves turned to panic.

He wasn't prepared for what he saw at the combine. The other players there were so intense, so serious.

And there wasn't even a game on the line.

That's what White lived for, by the way: the games.

Not combines, and certainly not practices. He was all about being a gamer, baby.

Not that that was always a good thing.

"One of the concerns I had about Cameron last year was that you knew he was a Division I player but that he didn't always practice like it," Glashagel said. "He was one of those kids who would be amazing at the games but then miss practice once a week, or be late to practice because he forgot his pants. Or if it was hot, he'd just dog it.

"He was a gamer, not a 'practicer.'"

And coaches, even college coaches, like both.

White finally began to understand that at the combine, when he saw all the players there - even the players who were better than him, players he assumed could get away with resting on their laurels - being "practicers."

"The way they all looked, and their performance made me want to try harder to keep up so that I could get ranked (by the scouts) just like them," White said. "They were more intense than me, they were energized and ready to perform. I wasn't used to that, except for in games.

"I was used to kind of dazing off in practice situations, to not paying attention. Sometimes I'd just slack off and not go very hard. Seeing the way those guys did it really impacted me a lot."

From then on, White completely changed his attitude on practice, much like he once did his zip code - swiftly and with the understanding that he was doing so for his own good.

Before moving to Antioch in eighth grade, White and his family lived in Waukegan.

He says he still has friends from there, but admits that the environment wasn't the healthiest. At least not for him.

"At first, I was mad about moving. But I'm glad now," White said. "I was getting into so much trouble in Waukegan. I was getting into fights and really bad trouble at school. There were all of these bad influences there.

"Moving to Antioch was like getting a new life. I'm pretty sure that if I had stayed in Waukegan I wouldn't even be playing football right now. I'd be in too much trouble running the streets and stuff."

Now, the only trouble White makes is for defenses on the football field.

"He was our star running back last year and he's even better this year," said neighbor and teammate Alex Paramski, who starts at defensive end for the Sequoits. "I think he went to that combine and realized, 'Wow, I've got to start working harder if I want to be like those other guys.' I think he has. He's different this year."

And not just on the field.

White says his new attitude has even translated into better grades. He's now taking school more seriously, too.

White raised his grade point average from a 2.1 to a 3.0.

"Academics are important to me, too," said White, who has gotten letters from hundreds of colleges, most notably Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa and Northwestern. "I'm just going to keep working hard and hope that I can get into a really good school and play football. That's my dream."

No pressure.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com