Arizona State Football: Give Rachaad White the respect he deserves

Rachaad White was one of the more intriguing signees for Herm Edwards and Arizona State football in the 2020 class and he didn’t disappoint.

Although he was rated as a three-star, he was a top JUCO product, ranked the No. 3 running back at that level before committing to Arizona State. He came in with the highly-touted four-star Chip Trayanum and they were tasked with replacing Eno Benjamin, which wouldn’t be easy.

Everyone, including myself, hyped up Trayanum because he was the younger back with a higher ceiling, but White kind of became an afterthought.

And then when the season finally began, he made everyone look silly.

Trayanum did run for 290 yards and four touchdowns on 5.9 yards per touch which was impressive for a true freshman, but he wasn’t the star of the show. That was actually White. He rushed for 420 yards and five touchdowns on an incredible 10 yards per carry in just four games.

Arizona State got off to a slow start with an 0-2 record and one-score losses to USC and UCLA but then blew out Arizona and Oregon State to end the year with a 2-2 mark.

White was the highlight of the pandemic-shortened season.

Give the Arizona State football star some respect

Jayden Daniels is the ‘star’ of Arizona State and the offensive has had no shortage of NFL talent over the years but White might end up having the best NFL career of the bunch.

Edwards found an absolute diamond in the rough with White who was ranked in the 50s in terms of JUCO prospects in 2020 and no one expected this type of breakout for him. He averaged 10 yards per carry which is unheard of and just went to show how explosive he could be. He was a home run hitter every time he touched the ball and was only second on the team in carries.

Arizona State fans love what White brings to the table, but when you talk about dark-horse Heisman candidates, he doesn’t get enough love.