Playing football was a hard sell to Springhill (La.) North Webster running back Devin White, an Arkansas target and one of the nation's top prospects.
He thought his future would be on a basketball court instead of a football field.
"He really thought basketball was what it was going to be," said Coesha White-Standokes, White's mother. "We traveled AAU ever since he was in the fifth grade."
White was about 5-11 inches, similar to his current height, and weighed 157 pounds at the age of 10.
"I had to deal with his age, people thinking he wasn't the right age," White-Standokes said. "I would actually tell them he was the youngest on the team, but they would always think he was the oldest."
White might not have stepped on a football field if not for Shaun Houston, who is now the assistant principal at nearby Minden High School. Houston took his then 11-year-old son, C.K., to the Cotton Valley High School gym to play pickup basketball and spotted White competing against other players who were six to eight years older.
"I saw the kids on court playing," Houston said. "I see this one kid, Devin. At 10 years old he was probably about 5-10, 5-11."
It didn't take long for Houston to notice that White was gifted beyond his years.
"Like most gyms the little guys are separated from the high-schoolers and older guys, but I'm looking at this one guy and I honestly thought he was one of the older guys," Houston said. "I saw him go up for a layup and he almost dunked at 10."
Houston asked other kids about White, expecting to hear that he was a high school sophomore or a junior.
"They said, 'Coach, he's in the fourth grade," Houston said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, my lord. ' I'm seeing this guy move around and seeing him jump and seeing him physically bang down low with the older guys."
Watching White compete against the older kids piqued Houston's curiosity.
"I thought if this kid can do this on the basketball court, I wonder what would happen if someone gave him a little instruction on the football field," Houston said.
Houston decided to begin a youth football program for children 10 to 12 years old in 2009 so White and his son could play. He named the team the Cotton Valley Swamp Dawgs, but trying to convince White to give football a shot was a challenge.
"He said, 'No man, I don't think I'm going to do it. I'm a basketball player. I think I'm just going to stick to basketball,' " Houston said.
Houston persuaded White to give football a try with help from a friend. Houston walked directly over to White's mother after White made a bone-jarring hit in his first practice.
"I told Coesha, 'If Devin keeps his head and he can stay humble and continues to do what he's doing in the classroom, there's no doubt in my mind Devin will be one of the top football players in the country,' " Houston said.
White-Standokes soon realized her son was a unique talent on the football field.
"Everywhere we went we had to carry his birth certificate because everybody wanted to make sure he was the right age," she said.
Parents on other teams didn't care for White's physical play.
"He started where he wouldn't tackle kids as hard because people were complaining," White-Standokes said.
Houston has been proven right.
White is now 6-0 and weighs 258 pounds and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds. He has more than 40 scholarship offers and is rated by ESPN as the No. 3 athlete and No. 97 overall prospect in the nation by ESPN.
The local communities embraced the Swamp Dawgs, who started with 11 players and but at one point in the season had only nine.
"That team was putting a whooping on teams with 20 to 30 players," Houston said.
The success of the team seemed to inspire the area, which now has four teams with more than 100 players.
"It's because of kids like Devin," Houston said.
White-Sandokes didn't envision her son being one of the nation's more highly sought recruits.
"I never thought it would be as big as it is," she said.
White learned from his grandmother, Doris White, that he is cousins with Arkansas sophomore receiver Jared Cornelius when Springhill took on Cornelius and Shreveport Evangel during White's freshman season.
"My mom said that's your cousin, so that's when we figured it out," White-Sandokes said.
White said he plans to take an official visit to Arkansas. His mother is focused on academics and a coaching staff that cares for her son's well-being.
"Are they looking out for my son and have his best interest?" White-Sandokes said. "Make sure there's somewhere he can attend church on Sunday."
Houston said he is proud of White, who has a 3.8 grade-point average and takes honors classes.
"Some of my players have come through and once they get to that certain age they try to do it on their own, but Devin has taken all of the advice that all of the adults in his circle have given him," Houston said. "He's been able to keep himself completely out of trouble."
E-mail Richard Davenport at
rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 08/30/2015