Arizona State’s Tim White shares Olympic dream at Pac-12 media days

When Tim White played against Oregon last season, he took a second to look around.

Arizona State’s eventual loss stung, but White grew up watching the Ducks dance around the field in their eye-catching uniforms. He needed two years in junior college to shore up his grades and garner serious Division I attention. The wide receiver then landed with the Sun Devils, and now he was fighting into triple-overtime against Oregon, of all teams.

“When you actually have them on the football team with you it’s like a dream,” White said at Pac-12 media days in Hollywood on Friday. “It’s like, ‘Wow, I’m really here and I’m playing in this game. I’m not a fan.’”

In early July, White traveled to Oregon, to chase another dream. The Santa Clarita native, who graduated from Hart High, competed in the triple jump at the U.S. Olympic trials. Unlike USC’s Adoree’ Jackson, who focused only on the long jump after football season, White split his time until the trials.

He joined ASU’s track and field team after catching eight touchdown passes in his first football season, and was splitting time between the two sports until the trials.

Then he had five days to prepare to jump in Eugene, and fell six spots short of the 12-man finals.

Now he’s squarely focused on football. At least for now.

“That’s not a question,” White said of whether he plans on competing in track and field in the future. “I don’t want to drop that. I want to keep doing that.”

White caught 57 passes for 633 yards last season, good for 11.1 yards per catch. He smiled while saying he plans to burn every cornerback in this conference this season, and wore a more serious look while insisting he’ll gel with whoever wins Arizona State’s quarterback race. The Sun Devils finished 6-7 with a loss to West Virginia in the Cactus Bowl, and White was a shot in the arm for an offense that ranked fifth in the conference at year’s end.

That’s why he was picked, with defensive lineman Tashon Smallwood, to represent ASU on Friday. It was also his 22nd birthday, and a strange one at that.

“It’s definitely different,” White said, showing his big smile again. “Answering questions with reporters, that’s a different birthday.”

But White’s used to different, playing two sports at a power-five school and juggling Olympic goals with what he wants to accomplish on the football field. His legs may have hated him for much of this summer, but he thinks he’s all the better for it.

“Knowing that everybody is working their butt off to get where they want to get,” White said of what he learned trying to qualify for the Olympics. “I would say that to anyone, during those times when you’re by yourself, that’s when you should be working your hardest.”