Mike White – March 22, 2023
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Wednesday, March 22, 2023
QB Mike White
(I wanted to ask you, you spent the last couple of years with the Jets under Mike LaFleur. I know he spent a lot of time in his career with Head Coach Mike McDaniel. I was curious how you think that might kind of help you pick up the offense quicker here with your new team?) – “Yeah, that was one of the plusses of coming to Miami was it’s the same system. Now I’m sure there’s different verbiage and things like that, but down to its core, it’s from the same system, so it’ll be definitely easier than learning a brand-new offense.”
(We saw the picture of you as a youngster it seems like outside of Hard Rock Stadium, or then called Joe Robbie Stadium. What were some of your childhood memories as a Dolphins fan and who were some of your favorite players?) – “Yeah, I definitely grew up a big Dolphins fan. We would watch every Sunday. I remember I was still back in college, a Dolphins fan, and they – I think it was 2016 when they made the playoffs and they played the Steelers in the Wild Card round. I remember coming home and watching that with my dad and my family. My favorite players growing up were – there’s a lot of them. I obviously loved watching Wes Welker so it was pretty cool to meet him when I signed. There’s so many. Big Ronnie Brown fan. Ronnie Brown was my first jersey. I remember when they were running the Wildcat with him. That was pretty cool. I’d probably have to say Ronnie Brown because that was that was my first jersey that I went out and bought.”
(And so when you were a high school quarterback at University School, you were essentially on the same campus as the Dolphins old practice facility. Did you ever stop to think like, “Hey, I could be there one day?”) – “Oh, no doubt. I mean, we would hear whenever they would practice with crowd noise, we could hear it in class. So that’s how close we were, but growing up, especially at that age like middle school and even into the beginning part of high school, I didn’t think I was going to be in the NFL. I was more of a baseball player. My goals were the MLB and then I kind of caught on late with football and was a late bloomer and didn’t play until my senior year and then had some success. And then obviously the story goes on, but it is funny, like looking back on it. Like we would practice baseball right next to the bubble and you would see the Dolphins facility all the time and still it never really crossed my mind that this could be an opportunity so it’s pretty funny looking back at it.”
(I want to ask you a little bit more about the switching from baseball to football. I go back – I know there’s a story about Dan Marino – how he made a similar decision sitting at his dining room table one night, and it was sort of like okay, which way are you going to go? What was the moment for you when you decided, okay, football is my future and it’s not baseball?) – “Yeah, it wasn’t till late into my senior year. I knew the summer going into my senior year when I was going to be the starter for the football team. I kind of was like, ‘all right, there’s some chance’ but the problem is especially nowadays, if you don’t have any like junior film or – guys are getting offers so early. Like I had no film. So college coaches would come in and they could say they liked me after watching a practice, but there was no film to go off of. So they couldn’t pull the trigger on an offer. So I thought baseball would have to be my route because I had more experience and more exposure at that because during the summer when you do all your football camps, that’s when I was going and doing the travel baseball tournaments and all that and being in front of colleges and I was getting some looks for colleges. And then senior year, I started to have some success during the season and more coaches starting to take notice in football and I found out football gave full rides and baseball doesn’t. So that helped. I’m sure my parents were a big fan of that decision, too. But no, they were supportive both ways. But that’s kind of how it went down. I was a late bloomer in football and once I kind of caught a hang of it and had some success, I fell in love with it and I’m really happy with my decision.”
(And now that you’re in the NFL, you’ve had some very notable games. I mean, if you’re charting it, you go from not playing to putting up some big numbers in some games. How do you describe your career thus far to someone who maybe hasn’t followed it as closely as obviously you have? How would you describe your career?) – “Yeah, I think just as any quarterback and backup quarterback in the NFL, you got to be ready when called upon and you’re never going to know when that is. So that’s the whole mantra of being a backup quarterback is staying ready. That’s what I struggled with my rookie year. I was the third inactive guy all year in Dallas and kind of took it for granted and didn’t really stay mentally locked in. So when it was time to compete for the two, I didn’t feel as prepared as I should and then I learned from that mistake and I tried to keep that learning experience with me throughout my entire career. And yeah, you just got to stay ready and luckily, I got the opportunity to play and we had some success and there were some good team wins and good offensive performances and then hoping to build upon that.”
(I wanted to ask you about playing with the rib injury last year and where that ranks on your list of accomplishments because I know to a certain extent, you guys are expected to play while injured, but this is a rib injury for a quarterback and so what where does that rank on your career list of accomplishments?) – “’Accomplishments’ might not be the right word but no, I’m just messing with you. (laughter) No, it was crazy. At the time when it happened in Buffalo like yeah, it hurt but I kind of was just like ‘Alright, maybe I just bruised my rib or something or I’m just sore and it was cold out so that’s not helping.’ And then when I got the news that I broke five ribs or four ribs, whatever the number was, it was kind of like I didn’t believe it. I was like, it doesn’t hurt that bad and then a week, having to lay off for two weeks and a week of just not doing anything it got really tightened up and then trying to throw through it was really painful. Every throw hurt. I mean, I’m proud of it because I didn’t tap out and I proved to the guys that quarterbacks can be tough, too, and hopefully my toughness isn’t in question. But it was a good learning experience and if anything I’m just happy to prove that I’m not just one of those little sissy quarterbacks that people like to make fun of from time to time. (laughter)”
(We know you’re a tough dude. We know you’re a good quarterback. But I also am a fan of your social media game with the tweet you put out of you and OL Dan Feeney and WR Braxton Berrios coming to South Florida. I was curious was that your edit? Is that your handiwork? You got some skills on the social media side of things?) – “So it was my idea. I texted a guy in our agency. I was like, ‘hey, what do you think, do you think we could get this done?’ once I found out that Dan and Braxton were signing and he got it done for me. So I wish I was – maybe I’ll make that my next offseason project so I don’t have to ask people and I can kind of turn out more content. (laughter) But it was my idea. Just I didn’t execute it.”
(I got a real kick out of the “Mike Effing White” t-shirts last year. I don’t know if they’re still available on Amazon.com.) – “Yeah, I don’t know either. (laughter)”
(But listen, what I thought was cool about the t-shirts is that it was clear that your teammates liked and respected you. How did you go about and what you think is the best way to find your space in a locker room and develop the right kinds of bonds with your teammates?) – “Yeah, I think I’ve said it in countless interviews before in New York and it’s just that’s – my favorite part about playing football is the locker room, the team aspect, the camaraderie, whatever you want to call it. We’re very blessed to do what we do and the fact that we get to go in and play football for a living every day and we get to show up to work and if you want to get in the sauna before work starts, you get in the sauna. If you want to get in the hot tub – like we’re really lucky. And I think if you go in with the right mindset of enjoying everybody there and getting to know different people from different walks of life and just enjoying your teammates and enjoying the time you spend together, because we do spend a lot of time together whether it’s practice, training camp, meetings, travel, away games, all that good stuff. You get to know a lot of guys and you enjoy it. So that’s been my approach about it is whatever my role is, to take on that role and then help whoever you can and whether it’s in the quarterback room, whether it’s on the field or if you’re running with the threes, you help your guys. If you’re running with the twos, you help your guys. And whenever it’s your time to run with the ones, you hope that you have built a bond and that you can kind of build on that to develop trust with them. So that’s kind of how I approach it and I think it’s had success for me.”
(Have you ever met QB Tua Tagovailoa or anything like that?) – “I have not. I have not met Tua yet.”
(So back to baseball, give us the rundown, the scouting report on you as a baseball prospect. You were a pitcher, right? So what were you throwing on the mound?) – “My senior year I was up to 93. I was a tall lanky guy. I think I was like 180 pounds soaking wet. So I could throw four pitches pretty much wherever I wanted – fastball, changeup, slider, curve. I like to kind of pitch backwards maybe and keep hitters guessing. Yeah, I mean, that’s pretty much it. Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of the gist of who I was as a pitcher.”
(And I wanted to ask you one more about WR Braxton Berrios and OL Dan Feeney, coming over with them, what it’s going to be like and what those guys are like as teammates?) – “Yeah, I told Chris Grier when I when I got to talk to him when I signed, they’re such good locker room guys, I think. I know I might be biased because I spent four years with Braxton and two years with Dan, but I do think they can – it seems to me from the outside looking in on this team and playing them the past four years, you can tell it’s a close-knit group. They’re building a really good culture and you can tell just the way they kind of interact and even you see posts on social media and all that. Like we’re all kind of connected in that way and you see things from different teams. So I think Braxton and Dan will fit right in with the culture that’s being built and they’ll be good locker room guys and hopefully they can contribute and keep building towards something special.”
(I wanted to ask about your free agency because it seemed like it was over pretty quickly, so how much interest was there from other teams and once you found out the Dolphins were interested, was it an instant yes? How did things go there?) – “Yeah, there were a couple of teams that called my agent when the free agency period started at noon or whatever it was on that Monday. But I knew in the back of my mind that Miami was at the top of my list just because obviously one, going back home, living in South Florida, which is easier for my family because I live in Tampa during the offseason so that’s not a bad drive and especially with two little ones, it makes traveling way easier not having to hop on a plane. But I mean, the same system was huge with me, too, because I really do enjoy the system. I felt like I grasped it pretty well the past two years so I wanted to keep building upon my knowledge in the system and my experience. So it just kind of felt like the perfect storm. The same division, so I know what the Patriots run. I played against them before. I know what the Bills run. Obviously going against the Jets in practice the last two years, so I know what they run. So just kind of familiarity all around was what made my decision pretty easy.”
(And then one other thing would be the opportunity – I guess you had an opportunity to play here in the season finale. Talk about that and I guess the missed opportunity there.) – “Yeah, it sucked. I tried all week to just push through it because I was so excited to finally – I mean I’ve backed up Joe (Flacco) down there before but I’ve never gotten the chance to play, so I thought it would have been really, really cool to be able to have all my family out and play, and play in the stadium I grew up going to. Now it looks way different, so it probably wouldn’t feel like the same stadium, but it was. It definitely sucked missing out on that opportunity but such is life.”
(I wanted to ask you one, why Tampa for the home base, and two, when you when you were playing at University School, did you have any interactions with players? I know they’re always going back and forth from the facility to the medical center. Did you ever run into any players because I know you’re a baseball player, so you’re right there.) – “Not that I remember running into any players. I mean, yeah, not off the top my head. To be honest with you, I could have walked by someone and not even have known. So there might have been a run-in at some point that I just wasn’t aware of but not that I can remember. And then Tampa and the offseason – so I met my wife here in Tampa. She’s born and raised in Tampa so she calls the shots and we picked Tampa as our home base. But no, I really like it in Tampa. I spent two years here at USF and I like it a lot. It’s close enough to my family in South Florida that I can just pop down when I need to but I kind of like it’s a little more slower pace, which is kind of more my speed up here.”
(I’m wondering what your thoughts are on the upcoming season, how you see yourself fitting into this team and what your role will be?) – “I mean, there’s a lot of excitement in this upcoming season. I mean, it’s a very talented roster. There was a lot of success last year that I think we can build upon and I’m really excited to be a part of it. As far as my role, I mean as any backup quarterback, it’s to support the guy and do whatever you can. I think some of the best quarterback rooms I’ve been a part of is just everyone has a voice and everyone has a say and it’s really good dialogue in the room and support systems and it makes going to work fun and you enjoy going to the quarterback room and just shooting the breeze with the guys and enjoying everybody’s personalities and then getting on the field and just helping. Whenever you have that relationship in the quarterback room, obviously healthy competition and all that good stuff, but when you’re supporting the guy and saying ‘hey man, this is what I see.’ Or when it’s your turn and you ask like, ‘hey guys, are you seeing any of this?’ That’s been the best rooms I’ve been around and that’s kind of my plan of action going into it is just being a sounding board for whoever and helping however I can.”
(Kind of in that same vein, last year QB Tua Togavaiola a spoke very glowingly about you know Darrell Bevell’s impact on his career. I was curious if you had a chance to meet Coach Bevell yet and how excited you are to work with him?) – “Yeah, I have. I got a chance to meet Coach Bevell when I signed on Thursday and I can see why Tua would say that. Just off initially meeting him, he seems like a very intelligent guy so you know you’re going to learn a lot about the quarterback position, and he’s also been around a lot of talented players and good offenses, so he has a ton of experience that I’m sure he draws upon and when he’s coaching the guys. Tua had an unbelievable season last year and I’m sure there’s no coincidence that Coach Bevell was involved and the entire offensive staff in general. So I’m really excited and just learning from someone new that has so many different stops and so much experience, so I’m really excited to get to work with him.”
