"Derek's quickness

and breakaway speed gave our offense another dimension," said head

coach Mike Hennigan. "He and Jason were an effective combination

because they each had different strengths, and we were able to use them

in different situations.

"We had good competition

with three signees at the tailback position, and Derek is the one who

emerged. For the first two or three games, we gave them all an opportunity

to see who could make a difference on our team, and Derek is the one who

stepped up.

"Jason gave us stability

at the position, but Derek has developed and put himself in a position

to line up at the number one position next year and we'll still have

some experienced people who can compete with him.

"With the type of year

he had and the stats he had, we can only look for even better things in

the future," Hennigan said. "What he brought to the team was

an ability to make explosive plays. He has the ability to run away from

the defense, and the quickness to make tacklers miss."

White ranked second on the

team in rushing, scoring and all-purpose yardage, and was fourth on the

squad in both receiving and total offense. For the year, he had 94 carries

for 628 yards and eight rushing touchdowns, and he caught 14 passes for

218 yards and two more scores. That added up to 846 all-purpose yards

and 10 touchdowns for 60 points.

During the early part of the

season, White won back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the

Week awards.

The first came following his

break-out performance against defending conference champ Murray State

when he piled up 207 all-purpose yards and scored four touchdowns. He

rushed for 150 yards and three touchdowns in 16 attempts, and caught two

passes for 57 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown play.

The following week, White raced

for 152 yards and two touchdowns against UT Martin and added two receptions

for seven yards, giving him 159 yards of total offense.

Late in the year, White rushed

for 88 yards and a touchdown in 11 carries against Southeast Missouri.

The son of Vincon and Janice

White, Derek lettered three years on the football team under coach Danny

Cronic at East Coweta, and also lettered once in track & field, running

relay events and the 100-meter dash.

As a prep junior, he rushed

for 16 touchdowns and more than 1,200 yards. In his senior season, he

gained 1,109 yards and scored 10 TDs, and he was named all-county and

all-region.

In the next few years with

the Golden Eagles, indications are strong that a few more honors with

the prefix of all- could be added to Derek's personal trophy case.

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