Arcega-Whiteside continues to impress
PHILADELPHIA >> Offensive tackle Andre Dillard deserves votes, but if you’re picking the most impressive rookie through two weeks of Eagles training camp, it’s wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside.
Arcega-Whiteside’s hands have been exceptional, the body control and positioning openingday ready.
The speed, well, it’s been stunning to all but Eagles head coach Doug Pederson and Valorie Whiteside, JJ’s mother.
“You don’t realize he’s moving that fast unless you’re behind him,” Whiteside said after practice Thursday.
Whiteside, Arcega-Whiteside’s younger brother Keenan, and cousin Caleb had front row seats on JJ’s 90-yard run with a tipped pass through a field full of pursuers Tuesday.
Arcega-Whiteside left them in his dust, then skied to celebrate what would have been a touchdown with fellow rookie secondround draft pick Miles Sanders.
Whiteside didn’t take any credit for the basketball skills her son has shown off, although she could have. She set dozens of records and had her number retired after an All-American career at Appalachian State. Whiteside spent 16 years playing professional basketball in Europe, mostly as a small forward. She met JJ’s father, Joaquin, also a professional basketball player, in Spain, where JJ was born. The family moved to Inman, S.C., when ArcegaWhiteside was 7.
Whiteside was feeling the onset of separation anxiety Thursday, as the family soon will return home. She’ll miss her son, the bilingual honors student at Stanford who interned for Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State. Whiteside, in a short period of time, also has developed an affection for the Philly area.
“It’s going to be hard to leave,” Whiteside said. “We’ve been trying to get JJ settled. And I really like it here. It has a really European feel to it, the architecture.”
Whiteside won’t be gone for long. The preseason begins next week. The regular season is five weeks away.
Dillard, by the way, has done a solid job filling in with the first team when veteran left tackle Jason Peters needs a rest, as he did late Thursday.
••• Linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill picked off Carson Wentz in the red zone in a 7-on-7 drill Thursday.
Wentz had a perfect throw to Dallas Goedert dropped in the corner of the end zone, then connected with Zach Ertz again and again.
The red zone is where 6-6, 220-pound receiver Carlton Agudosi, from Rutgers, caught two of his three touchdown passes, from Nate Sudfeld and Cody Kessler.
“You have to focus on each play and take it for what it is,” Agudosi said. “And that’s something that over the course of my career I’ve been trying to get better at — just focus on that one play and doing that to the best of my ability. Nothing’s easy in football. It’s all hard work.”
Agudosi said he played in four different offenses at Rutgers and has “run every route in every offense you can think of.”
••• NOTES >> Wide receiver DeSean Jackson got a veteran’s day off. Receiver Mack Hollins (groin) and linebacker Paul Worrilow (knee), among others, didn’t practice. Peters took a knee, then exited before the end of practice. … Cornerback Sydney Jones has done a fine job defending Nelson Agholor. Jones broke up a couple of Wentz throws to Agholor in red zone.