By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Tim White's potential in the triple jump is difficult to gauge. He's only been competing in the event for four years, he's only been receiving elite training for four weeks and he's still in football shape after playing receiver, punt returner and kick returner for the Sun Devils this fall.
"I wouldn't even say he has trained with us yet," Sun Devils track coach Greg Kraft said. "He had almost 300 all-purpose yards (289) in the (Cactus) bowl game (Jan. 2) so when he came in here he was pretty beat up. The biggest thing we've done with him is get him with our therapist and our trainers to get him healthy and prepared because we approach conditioning differently than football."
Even so, Kraft can't help wonder about the upside for a guy who has already jumped 54 feet, one inch; a guy who has won all three meets he has entered this season; a guy whose introduction to the sport was both wildly successful and charmingly informal.
"My senior year in high school in about the third meet, I had an open event for the first time that year and I was like 'why don’t I try the triple jump?'" White said. "My coach was like 'if you want to, go for it,' so I said, 'OK, how do I do it?'"
With nothing more than some basic, on-the-spot instructions and one practice jump, White leapt 44 feet on his first attempt and 46 on his second.
"I decided right then and there that I was going to keep pushing with it," he said. "I fell in love with it."
Despite limited training and his continued participation in the football team's offseason program, White currently owns the 17th best official jump in the nation at 52-2. With two meets left before the NCAA Indoor Championships, including one this weekend in the altitude of Albuquerque, New Mexico, he needs to climb into the top 16 to qualify, but that doesn’t concern him.
"I'm just trying to get my legs fresh right now but with coach Kraft helping me out I think I can achieve those goals," White said. "Hopefully, I can climb into the top eight before NCAAs."
White's goals extend well beyond the NCAA meet. He wants to compete in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. To do that, he'll have to quality at the Olympic Trials at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on July 7 and 9. To compete in the trials, he has to reach the qualifying mark of 54-8. His personal record is the aforementioned 54-1.
"My freshman year (in junior college) I opened with 46 and this year I opened with a 50 so it shows my progression," he said. "Track seasons ends in May and there are a lot of Invites and qualifying mark meets that I can attend if I need to."
In 2013, while attending College of the Canyons, a junior college in Santa Clarita, Calif., White took first at the U.S. Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championship with a school-record leap of 53 feet, 1 inch. Nearly two months later, he won the silver medal in the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Medellin, Colombia. His leap of 16.49 meters would have been the 12th best mark at the 2012 London Olympics.
The experience served to whet White's appetite for international competition. Reaching the Olympics would also serve as the crowning achievement for a kid who overcame so many hardships in his childhood to reach this point -- a story that azcentral.com's Doug Haller detailed so well during football season.
"It would mean the most coming from where I came from," White said. "I envision the Olympics like a football game. I know there's a lot of fans there but I'm used to that. I expect it to be like the Texas A&M game we played at the start of the season, only in in Rio. It will probably ignite some energy in me that I have never felt before."
Kraft has tried to temper White's expectations based on his relative lack of experience and the difficulty of reaching the Olympics.
"He still goes to football workouts in the morning. They’re not really cutting him any slack so for me it’s about managing him physically and managing his expectations," Kraft said. "You don't want to tell someone they can't do it but you also have to give them a realistic timeline.
"At the same time, I don't think people have an appreciation for what a unique talent he is. When he jumped 52-2 at Texas A&M earlier this season, that's a big-time bounce so I'm very curious to see how he's going to do in Albuquerque because this is a venue that is very favorable to jumpers. His PR is at the 54 mark and if he is able to do that with six weeks of training, any triple jumper in the world would tell you that is extraordinary."
Whether he achieves his goal or not, White has impressed Kraft with his dedication, his demeanor and his determination.
"He's incredibly attentive and thirsty for knowledge," Kraft said. "I couldn’t imagine a more receptive student-athlete. He's an absolute delight and I think I think if you go through the (Carson Student-Athlete Center) and talk to anybody who knows him, they'll say what a remarkable young man he is -- particularly when you hear his story.
"I think that's why football let him do it. His teammates aren’t hurt about it. They understand he's committed to them and he's taking care of business but he's also such a likeable guy with such an extraordinary story that nobody wants to deny him this opportunity."