Throwback Thursday Tribute: Running Back James White
Former Badgers running back James White is the first subject of Badger of Honor’s new weekly series. Throwback Thursdays will pay tribute to a significant Badger from the past.
James White is the first subject of this series because he is an often overlooked running back. He played right in the middle of the height of Wisconsin’s offensive surge from 2010-2013. He played with some of the greatest running backs in Wisconsin Badgers history, but is hardly mentioned as on of the greatest himself.
White’s career
In 2010, White was actually the leading rusher for the prolific Badger offense. He ran for 1,052 yards and 14 touchdowns, John Clay ran for 1,012 and Montee Ball finished with 996, just shy of becoming the third 1,000-yard back on the team. White ended up finishing his four-year career with just over 4,000 yards rushing, but he wouldn’t ever lead the Badgers in rushing again.
The 2011 season was the ‘Russell Wilson’ year in Madison. White had a fine season finishing with 713 yards and six touchdowns. The problem for White was Montee Ball had 1,923 yards and 33 touchdowns on the ground. Ball was a different kind of beast in 2011 and overshadowed White.
Ball returned for the 2012 season and out gained White yet again. White finished with 806 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was the perfect compliment to Ball, but we were still left wondering where the freshman version of White was.
Finally, in 2013, White would be the primary back with Ball off to the NFL. He split carries with some guy named Melvin Gordon and finished with 1,444 yards and 13 touchdowns. White also become more of the receiver we know him as today. His final year in Madison he caught 39 passes, tied for second on the team, for two scores. But White still didn’t leading the team in rushing yards. Gordon out gained him with a total of 1,609 yards.
Only four other running backs in Badgers history rushed for more than 4,000 yards in a career. White just so happened to play with two of them; Ball and Gordon.
White’s Legacy
It can be argued that White is one of the most underrated college football players ever. Even having led the Badgers in rushing his freshman season, he’s hardly ever remembered as being the best back on that team. Would a freshman really be better than the bulldozer John Clay was, or the legend that Montee Ball was about to become? He certainly isn’t remembered for being the best back on any team after that. But without White’s contributions, Wisconsin’s offenses those years wouldn’t have been as explosive as they were.
Backs like White don’t come around very often. He was the perfect compliment to three different backfields and he was able to shine as the main runner whenever he needed to. Having a guy like White for one or two seasons is a luxury very few programs have. Having a guy like White for four seasons is almost unheard of.
White was one of the best running backs in Wisconsin history. Had he not had the poor timing of playing at the same time as some of the other greats for Wisconsin he could have been even better. White finished with less than 1,000 yards twice, but still managed to break 4,000 for his career. If he didn’t have to share duties with Ball and Gordon he could have approached 5,000 career rushing yards.
White currently sits at 130th on the NCAA’s all-time rushing list, right between Chris Barclay of Wake Forest and Marcus Merriweather of Ball State. There have only been 131 players in NCAA history to rush for more than 4,000 yards in their career.
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White has since had an extremely productive NFL career with the New England Patriots. He won two Super Bowls and is one of the best pass-catching backs in the league. He isn’t getting too many carries these days, but his abilities to evade defenders is still on display while running routes and after the catch.