Roddy White doesn’t want to be UAB’s greatest player forever (2024)

Roddy White said he doesn’t think about being UAB’s greatest football player, although he certainly is.

“I really don’t,” White said. “I just kind of stay with the flow. There’ve been a lot of guys that have literally been coming out of there. Joe Webb has done a really good job of making it to the league and playing a long time. We’ve had some guys recently, like (Darious Williams) the cornerback for the Jacksonville Jaguars and like that, so we’ve had some guys come out of there.

“But I am the best guy so far. Hopefully, there’s someone behind me that’ll be great and surpass me one day and start their journey here at the Senior Bowl.”

White was waiting to be inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame with the Class of 2024 when the wide receiver made the remark on Sunday at the Grand Hotel Golf Club and Spa in Point Clear.

White played in the 2005 Senior Bowl after he had led the nation with 1,452 receiving yards in 2004. White had 71 receptions and 14 touchdown catches for UAB in 2004, when the Blazers played in a bowl for the first time. UAB wouldn’t make another bowl appearance until 2017 after its 59-40 loss to Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24, 2004.

“I wanted to show them I could play,” White said about his Senior Bowl week. “I think I had literally led the nation in yards and stuff like that. A lot of people were saying they hadn’t seen me play because we wasn’t on TV for a lot of games, so they didn’t have an opportunity to see me play and they just wanted to see me, so it was a good opportunity for me to actually be on the field with guys that I know had competed at a high level and were All-Americans.”

White was the fourth UAB player to come to the Senior Bowl, following Eddie Freeman and Bryan Thomas in 2002 and Chris Brown in 2003. In the 19 games since White’s appearance, five more Blazers have come – Darrell Hackney in 2006, Joe Webb in 2010, Matt McCants in 2012 and Jordan Smith and Austin Watkins in 2021.

The players generating the buzz in Mobile at the 2005 Senior Bowl came from Auburn’s 2004 undefeated team, with quarterback Jason Campbell, cornerback Carlos Rogers and running back Carnell “Cadillac” Williams in the Port City. All three were first-round selections in the 2005 NFL Draft. But so were White and another state standout, Troy pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware.

“We were in the same boat,” White said about Ware. “He had another tremendous week of practice, too, and end up getting picked in the top 12 by the Dallas Cowboys. We came down here from the Group of 5 teams and nationally put on a show, a lot of us did, and actually really helped our draft stock.”

White went to the Atlanta Falcons with the 27th selection in 2005. He spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Falcons. White recorded six consecutive seasons with more than 1,150 receiving yards, earned Pro Bowl recognition four times and became a first-team All-Pro in 2010, when he led the NFL with 115 receptions.

White played in 171 regular-season games with Atlanta. No other UAB alumnus has played in that many NFL contests. The only other former Blazers who have appeared in at least 100 NFL regular-season games are Thomas and Webb.

Defensive tackle Josh Evans became the first UAB alumnus to play in an NFL regular-season game on Nov. 12, 1995, when he lined up for the first time with the Houston Oilers in their 32-25 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Evans reached the NFL before the Blazers reached NCAA FBS: UAB didn’t play its first game as an NCAA Division I-A program until Aug. 31, 1996, when the Blazers fell to Auburn 29-0.

Twenty-eight UAB players have appeared in NFL regular-season games, including four in 2023, when offensive tackle Chris Hubbard, cornerbacks Starling Thomas V and Darious Williams and defensive end Alex Wright did.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at@AMarkG1.