Blair White (born February 20, 1987) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). After playing

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 Varsity team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

, he was signed by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2010. He played for the Colts for two seasons from 2010 to 2011.

Early life

White attended

Nouvel Catholic Central High School Nouvel Catholic Central High School is a private, Catholic high school located in Saginaw Charter Township, Michigan and serving the Saginaw region. Nouvel is a high school that enrolls approximately 150 students. The school was formed in 19 ...

in Saginaw, Michigan. As a senior, he had 63 receptions for 800 yards and 10

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. He also was two-year starter at

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

on the

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team and played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

College career

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, White joined the

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album) or the title song, 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album) or the title song, 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album) or the title song, 1992 *''Walk On'', by Kellie Coffey, 200 ...

in 2005. After seeing limited time as a freshman and sophomore, he started five of 13 games as a junior. He finished the season with a team leading 43 receptions for 659 yards and a touchdown. He was a second-team All-Big Ten selection by

Phil Steele Phil Steele (c. 1960) is an American sportswriter and analyst who focuses exclusively on college and professional football. He is considered a "highly respected prognosticator" within the sports media. His company, Phil Steele Publications, pro ...

. As a senior, he started all 13 games and had 70 receptions for 990 yards and nine touchdowns. He was named first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and second-team by the media. White finished his college career with 18 starts in 40 games, 116 receptions for 1674 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also earned First-team

Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are give ...

honors and Academic All-Big Ten Honors all four years of his college career.

Professional career

Rookie season

White was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

on April 24, 2010. After spending the first couple of weeks on the Colts

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

, he was promoted to the active roster on September 26, 2010 after an injury to

Pierre Garçon Pierre Andre Garçon (; born August 8, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Norwich University and Mount Union College, and was s ...

. He scored his first NFL touchdown in his NFL debut on a pass from Colts quarterback

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the In ...

against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

on September 26, 2010. White finished the 2010 season with 36 receptions for 355 yards and five touchdowns.

2011 season

In 2011 Blair played in 7 games but was severely limited by back injuries. He recorded no receptions, returning 7 punts for 22 yards. He was waived following the 2011 season on April 13, 2012. He opted to leave the NFL at 25.

Regular season

Postseason

Post-football

He gave up on forcing his NFL career while not being at 100%. He has had three back surgeries and still experiences some pain. “Sometimes I see the receivers get hit, and I don’t miss that part of it. I do miss the catches. I miss the touchdowns. But I don’t miss the hits.” He enrolled in dental school University of Detroit-Mercy, something he had planned for before football.

References

External links

Michigan State Spartans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Blair 1987 births Living people American football wide receivers Michigan State Spartans football players Indianapolis Colts players Players of American football from Saginaw, Michigan University of Detroit Mercy alumni