PRO 2025 Rookie Spotlight: Ricky White, WR UNLV
Rookie Spotlight: Ricky White, WR UNLV
Height: 6-0 1/2″ (Shrine)
Weight: 179 (Shrine)
Hands: 8 7/8″
Arm: 31 3/4″
2025 Age: 23 – (2/6/02)
NFL Play-Style Comparison: Dante Pettis
Other RW Staff Comps: Markus Wheaton
Draft Grade: 3rd/4th Round
Projected 40: 4.45
Breakout Age: 20 (Sophomore)
Event: Shrine Bowl
Offensive Market Share Metrics (Final Season)
Receptions: 46%
Receiving Yards: 46%
Receiving TDs: 48%
High School: Marietta HS (Marietta, Georgia)
As a high school prospect: Class of 2020; 4-star (5.8)
Honors: Team Captian, 2024 MWC Special Teams Player of the Year, First-Team All-MWC Wide Receiver
College Attended: Michigan State(2), UNLV(3)
Pros
– Strong hand-eye-foot motor skills
– Creativity after the catch with elusiveness to make players miss
– diverse route tree, rounds off shallow routes at times.
– First multi-season 1,000-yard wide receiver in School History
– Gains ground with explosion during routes
– Borderline Elite (2.93 yards per route run)
– Finished Third in College Football in 2023 with 1,483 receiving yards, just behind Malik Nabers(1,569) and Rome Odunze(1,640)
– Class-leading (46.5% total team market share in 2024)
– Attended Marietta HS in Georgia, the same school as NFL Draft Picks Kimani Vidal, Ramel Keyton, and the Ojulari brothers (B.J. and Azeez)
Cons
– His frame is very thin throughout, I’d like to see the scale that reads 190 lbs
– Can get redirected by physical press corners
– Lacks true breakaway speed in the open field, still quick after the catch
– Not that long of a strider
– Strong hands but can occasionally allow footballs into his body
– 21 drops in three seasons at UNLV (although it was not a high drop rate at 6% given his volume of targets)
Highlight/Film
Scouting Notes:
Ricky White accumulated over 3,000 receiving yards in three seasons at UNLV after transferring from Michigan State in 2022. In 2020, White set the Michigan State freshman receiving record with 223 yards, he suffered an undisclosed injury prior to the 2021 season, causing him to miss his sophomore season and redshirt, soon after he entered the transfer portal.
White began his career at 165 lbs, from his Sophomore season to his Junior season, the UNLV website says he jumped from 175 lbs to 195 lbs. It’s one of the few things on his profile I am fighting with some doubt, he is a bit leaner through the frame than preferred, however, we know players with this build can succeed, look at Tank Dell and Devonta Smith. His diverse route tree and creativity before and after the catch allow for success at a high level, despite suffering 21 drops (6%) in three full seasons, I don’t see his hands as a problem, outside of them being “undersized”. A complete offensive dominator with 46.5% of the UNLV team market share in 2024, White’s route team and release package assist in this elite profile bolstering up as high as into Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft.
