Former Titan Todd White Hoping to Catch On as Returner With Eagles

For Todd White, a former Cal State Fullerton receiver, to make the Philadelphia Eagles, he’ll have to show he can catch a kicked football, not just a thrown one.

“We feel that in order to make our football team, (White) has to contribute on our special teams as a return man,” offensive coordinator Ted Plumb said. “And he certainly is working hard in that area.”

The Eagles are loaded at wide receiver, a position led by starters Mike Quick and Cris Carter. Veteran Gregg Garrity is a good bet to make the team, and White joins five others bidding for the last one or two spots.

White, a seventh-round draft choice, returns kickoffs and punts. That ability is important to the Eagles, who are determined to upgrade their woeful special teams of a year ago.

“If I wasn’t a returner or I couldn’t contribute on special teams, I don’t think that I would have any shot of making any team,” White said at the Eagles’ voluntary minicamp. “Special teams is going to be the deciding factor.”

Last year, the Eagles averaged only 5.9 yards per punt return and 16.8 per kickoff return, numbers that ranked near the bottom of the National Football League.

In 1987, as a senior at Fullerton, White averaged 12.1 yards on 31 punt returns and 20.1 yards on 7 kickoff returns. So White, who is 6-feet tall and weighs 196 pounds, already is listed as the Eagles’ starting punt returner and is the second-team kickoff return man behind eighth-round pick David Smith, a running back.

Coach Buddy Ryan can consider keeping as few as four wide receivers partly because of No. 1 draft pick Keith Jackson, a tight end with speed. Others besides White scrambling for the fourth wide receiver position are veterans Ron Johnson and Martin Booker and free agent Tamlin Antoine, as well as free agents Bruce Tiller and James Loving. Of those, only Booker is scheduled for major special-teams play in the exhibition season.

“Whenever we start returning kicks and things like that, that’s when you’ll start to see (one player) break away from the pack,” Ryan said. “A lot will depend on what you can do besides be a wide receiver, if you’re going to be that fourth receiver.”

Plumb said he “wouldn’t say that (White) has the team made at this point, but he has not been a disappointment. So when we put the pads on (at training camp), we’ll find out a lot more.”

Last season, White caught 54 passes for 832 yards.

“He’s not a speed guy,” Plumb said. “But the ability he had that I particularly liked is that he has a natural timing to the ball. When the ball is in the air, he knew how to go get it.”