LenDale White

LenDale Anthony White (born December 20, 1984) plays for the Tennessee Titans. He played for Norm Chow at USC, who was formerly the Titans' offensive coordinator. His head coach in Tennessee, Jeff Fisher, also played for the USC Trojans. He is the cousin of Denver Nuggets all-star Chauncey Billups.

2006 NFL Draft

Raised in poverty all of his childhood, one of the biggest reasons that he decided to declare himself eligible for the NFL draft after his junior year is because of his ill grandmother whom his mother takes care of on a daily basis. White's draft stock tumbled before and during the draft, mostly because he had not had a full workout before NFL scouts. During USC's workout day, he cited hamstring worries as a reason for not running or performing any workouts aside from the bench press, where he managed only 15 repetitions at 225 pounds. However, there were concerns that White had not done everything he could to prepare himself for the NFL Combine. Reportedly, there were audible groans when he bared his chest at a weigh-in. One scout was said to have laughed upon seeing White's bare chest. As one NFL general manager said after seeing White at the combine: "The guy needed a bra, it was ridiculous. You come to the combine looking like that and you want to be a first-round pick? Come on. The guy had obviously been doing nothing".

On draft day, he also mentioned that he had weighed as much as 252 pounds at the Rose Bowl, but despite that, he managed to rush for three touchdowns. It was later confirmed that he had a torn hamstring, but surgery was not required to mend it. His injury did, however, keep him off of the football field until May, 2006. White's plummet in the 2006 NFL Draft was one of the first day's most interesting storylines, and ended when he was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round with overall pick number forty-five.


2006 NFL Season

White was used sparingly in his rookie year. On August 10, during a Titans' practice, White was involved in a brief scuffle with one of his teammates. During the scuffle White allegedly spat in the face of safety Donnie Nickey, leading to a few tense moments in which several other players took out aggression on White. During his rookie season he carried the ball 61 times over 13 games, running at an average of 4 yards per carry, but failing to get into the end zone. His longest run was for 26 yards in week 13 of the 2006 NFL season, but was against the 32nd ranked run defense of the Indianapolis Colts. He also caught 14 passes in his 13 games, for a total of 60 yards. The game in which he had the biggest impact was the game early in the season in Indianapolis, where he ran for 48 yards and caught 3 passes for 7 yards, in a 14-13 loss.


2007 NFL Season

He began the 2007-2008 season as the Titans starting tailback, splitting time with Chris Brown. He was held for under 60 yards in the first four games. On October 21, with Chris Brown sidelined with an injury, White tallied his first 100 yard rushing game against the Houston Texans. He followed up that performance with a career high 133 yard rushing performance against the Oakland Raiders. Through 16 weeks he rushed for 1,110 yards and 7 touchdowns with a 3.7 yard average. White underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. The knee had bothered White during the last half of the 2007 season, but he is expected to be at full strength for offseason minicamps in May.

On March 15, 2008 LenDale White received citations for destruction of property, disobedience to a lawful order/interference and resistance while in Denver, Colorado. He appears in Snoop Doggs music video "Life of the Party" at the 1:18 mark.


2008 NFL Season

White was joined in the Titans backfield by rookie Chris Johnson, who was selected with the 24th pick in the draft. White had carrer highs in TD's in a season (15), longest run (80 yards), TD's in 1 game (3) and rushing yards in a game (149)White created a new endzone celebration after his touchdowns. "The Showcase" became common after each of his scores. White finished the 2008 season with 773 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns (1st in AFC), but became a goat in the playoffs with a red zone fumble in the divisional game against the Baltimore Ravens.