He had shed his gold No. 35 jersey and shoulder pads, but in his powerful hands he cradled the white game ball with the gold embossment that read:
2023 Marauder Alumni Athletic Club
Defensive MVP
CSU Homecoming Football Game
As White gave his prize to his mom — so she could bring it out to the contingent of more than a dozen more family members at the game, most of them from Springfield — he was asked about his full day off work.
His first sack of quarterback Jadon Adams had come on the Tigers first possession and it produced the fumble and the TD return.
His last sack came with just 66 seconds left in the game.
“I just wanted to keep pushing and getting to the guy,” he said. “I wanted to stack up as many as I could today.”
And if anybody knows about working a full shift and stacking things up, it’s the 23-year-old White.
After he graduated from Columbus West High School and had a football offer to Cincinnati Christian University fall through, he said he decided to get a job and “help out at home.”
He became a dockworker at Estes Express Lines in Columbus and ended up driving a forklift for the trucking company.
He worked there nearly 2 ½ years and said he was making $21.35 an hour on second shift.
Although he trained kids at a recreation center in Columbus on the side, he said he missed playing football.
“I didn’t want to spend my whole life doing shift work and then sitting around everyday, complaining that I had to do it,” he admitted. “I wanted to be doing something that I love.”
His mom watched him come to that decision on his own.
“I wanted him to find out what he wanted out of life,” she said. “And finally he knew he wanted to be doing something that was really (rewarding) to him.”
He spent a semester at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa City, Iowa, and then came to Central State because he wanted to play at a school that would be near his family.
His grandmother, Sumothia Howard, lives on Yellow Springs Street in Springfield. His mom, who is the youngest of nine kids, graduated from Springfield South. And Mike said he spends a lot of time in the city now.
Since he’s been back, the 265-pound lineman has given his family plenty to see. He won All Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) honors last season.
And Saturday, his explosive play early in the game lifted CSU, which hadn’t won a game since the season opener Sept. 2 at Soldier Field. Since then, the Marauders had lost five in a row.
But this was Homecoming and there was a big crowd and a party atmosphere across the campus
“All the energy we had around us and the support, I felt like I had to put on a show today,” White said.
He wasn’t the only Marauder who rose to the occasion.
Receiver Jeremiah Flores caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from starting quarterback Kendall Boney and Aaron Kennebrew ran a yard for a score
Running back Zay Price had 73 yards on 16 carries and linebacker Chazz Hunter added 10 tackles.
No one, though, is any more valuable than White said Porter:
“He made All Conference last year, so we expect this out of him and he did a good job today.
" Working those two years made him hungry. He’s a good guy to have on the team. Unlike some of the other guys, he understands what happens in the real world. And he knows he now has a tremendous opportunity to play college football.”
And Saturday — once again — he made the most of it.
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