Wyoming Running Back Max White ‘All Go and No Whoa’
LARAMIE -- Wyoming was the first school to offer Max White when he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal in late March.
He didn't hesitate when it came to making the ultimate decision.
"I just told them, 'yes,'" the senior running back said with a slight grin.
Was it really that simple?
"When you're walking down the street and you see a $100 bill, you don't leave it there and go looking for other $100 bills," the Iowa transfer continued. "You kind of just pick it up."
Jay Sawvel is sure glad he did, too.
Wyoming's second-year head coach Monday raved about the 5-foot-10, 215-pound utility player, who spent the previous four seasons playing for his home-state Hawkeyes. White suited up on every special teams unit in Iowa City. He returned kicks. He lined up in the backfield.
That won't change in Laramie.
Sawvel said White's former school really didn't want to lose him. That staff valued his leadership and "hard ass" nature. He earned three consecutive internal awards from head coach Kirk Ferentz, including Team Leader, Team Hustle and Coaches Appreciation.
The bottom line is he wants more carries.
He'll likely get that right here.
"The best thing you can say about Max is, you never have to say "go" to him, you have to say 'whoa' to him," Sawvel said on the opening day of fall camp. "He's a really good athlete. He's very quick for, you know, a 215-pound guy.
"... We're not going to have to worry about that guy being ready to play 12 Saturdays this fall."
White, a Cedar Rapids native, rushed the ball just nine times over the previous two seasons, including six for 35 yards in 2024. He found the end zone just once, a one-yard plunge in a 41-10 rout of visiting Western Michigan.
The former walk-on did return five kicks, averaging nearly 19 yards per attempt.
What will his role be here? Name it.
"I want to do everything I possibly can," he said bluntly. "I want to run the ball, I want to catch the ball and I want to return the ball. I want to play special teams ... I'm willing and itching to do everything I can to help the Wyoming Cowboys win football games."
Sawvel, unprompted, again mentioned White on Wednesday, calling him a "rough rider" and saying he has earned the respect of his teammates in a short period of time. Unlike some of the Power-4 transfers that have waltzed into this building in the past, he continued, White has shown he wants to earn it on a daily basis.
"We have a number of players here that are really good leaders, but these guys fit right into that, because they're grinders," Sawvel said, referring to White, along with former North Dakota State linebacker Enock Sibomana. "Players see that."
Wyoming's running back room looks much different than it did just a few short months ago.
Terron Kellman, a transfer from Charlotte, and redshirt freshman Nico Hamilton stole the spotlight during the Cowboys' 15 spring practices with returning starter Sam Scott on the shelf with a lingering contusion in his knee. Dontae Burch, along with safeties-turned-tailbacks Jevon Davis and Nikos Varelas also received a number of reps out of the backfield.
Three freshmen -- Samuel "Tote" Harris, Patrick Broadway II and Jaden Lawrence -- were not yet on campus. Damashja Harris, a 6-foot-2, 224-pound bruiser from North Texas was a late free-agent addition.
The starting gig is wide open, according to the head coach.
Don't count out White.
"I don't have a lot of control over anything in life, at all," he said. "One thing that I do have control over is the effort that I put in, and I take great pride in putting everything I have into everything I do.
"... I thank God that I get the opportunity to be a Cowboy."
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Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com
- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players