In review
Memphis QB Brady White reflects on record-setting career ahead of potentially last home game.
The first time Brady White saw Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in 2018, it was a snow-covered day.
He rode to the stadium with thencoach Mike Norvell and the two walked inside. They stood in the corner of an end zone and looked out.
It was part of White’s first visit after transferring to Memphis from Arizona State. Despite the cold air, he warmed to the idea of calling the stadium home.
“It was honestly beautiful. The Liberty Bowl was covered in white. I walked in and kind of just took it in with Coach Norvell,” White said.
Nearly three years later, the senior enters the stadium Saturday (2:30 p.m., ESPNU) with a chance to be most prolific quarterback in school history. When the Tigers (6-3, 4-3 AAC) host Houston (3-3, 3-2), he’ll be 56 yards shy of breaking Danny Wimprine’s school record of
10,215 career passing yards.
He can add to his program career records of 26 wins and 85 touchdown passes. It could also be his final time inside the Liberty Bowl.
White said he hasn’t decided whether he will return to Memphis next season. But as he and coach Ryan Silverfield talked this week about his career, they marveled at how he continued to add links to the Tigers’ chain of success.
“What he’s meant to this program is astronomical, you can’t put it into words. He’s a special man and certainly has meant the world to his program,” Silverfield said.
Taking a chance on Memphis
White’s arrival was a gamble not just for Memphis, which took a chance after he missed 11⁄ seasons with a foot injury.
2
White, who got his undergraduate degree in three years, rolled the dice in January 2018 despite never seeing the city.
“I made my mind up sight unseen,” White said. “That was just the confidence and peace that I had in that moment with that decision.”
Norvell recruited him to Arizona State and it didn’t take much to sell him once again. But It wasn’t easy when he arrived.
The quarterback competition led to a divided locker room as White had to win over new teammates. Some didn’t respect him during that 8-6 season and White last month called it a learning experience.
But as he became a leader, he got to know his teammates better and Memphis started rubbing off on him. Senior tight end Sean Dykes said that White’s been known to drop some Memphis slang in the locker room, something that didn’t happen that first year.
“I didn’t know if he was too comfortable with everybody. But over the years, he certainly became one of us,” Dykes said. “The more he got comfortable around us, we’ve seen his true self start to show.”
How he’s becoming Dr. White
White prefers team goals to personal accolades but the one honor he’s embraces was being one of 12 finalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy as the nation’s top scholar-athlete.
White, who is pursuing a doctorate in liberal studies, is Memphis’ first finalist for the award. He didn’t know how he’d juggle football and a doctorate program.
In his first semester, a professor told him what the typical reading hour requirements were to be successful. White thought “there’s no (expletive) way I’m going to get that done.”
He typically starts his day before or at 6 a.m. Between practices, film study and 3-5 hours of work with three classes a semester, he won’t finish until well in the night.
“It’s pretty brutal, man, I’m not going to lie,” said White, who finished his master’s program at Memphis in 11⁄
2 years. “Maybe I’m naïve and dumb but I’m pretty sure most doctorate students are taking 1-2 classes a semester, I don’t know.”
Most work consists of researching and writing papers ranging from short essays to longer assignments. White has a 3.58 grade point average while being among the nation’s top 10 in passing yards and touchdowns.
It’s meant squeezing in rest when he can or going from practice to reading books for his next assignment. He plans to finish the program whether or not he returns next season.
“I’m proud of myself to be doing it and that’s why I have a lot of pride in being recognized for something like that because this crap ain’t for everyone,” White said.
Leaving with respect
Coming to Memphis isn’t for everyone, either. Tigers fans criticized him in 2018 for not measuring up to Paxton Lynch or Riley Ferguson, the previous two quarterbacks.
It carried over the next season when White was booed in the second half against Navy. He remembered the boos but also what came next with touchdown passes on three consecutive drives.
It turned the corner for his career and arguably the best season in program history with a school record 12 wins, the program’s first outright AAC championship and a Cotton Bowl berth.
“What a way to shut up your own fans, right?” White said. “Everyone goes through that. No one wants to struggle, no one wants to have a bad game and they’re going to happen.”
It’s part of his story now. The struggle. The success. The love that was eventually earned. On Senior Day against Stephen F. Austin, White drew the loudest ovation.
White said he will discuss his future with his family before making a decision. He has another year of eligibility from the NCAA but after six years in college, few expect him to return.
But at some point, he’ll take another look around the Liberty Bowl and soak in the view.
Instead of snow, he’ll see memories he helped create and he hopes fans remember it as fondly, too.
“I got the job done. I win games. I’ve helped take this place to new heights and have been part of a special team, a group of brothers that I’m going to have long after my time here,” White said. “I know not everyone loved me initially but we’ve grown to have a nice compatible relationship and I’ll always have love for the city.”