Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

Scott White, a 2018 San Jose State Spartans football staff analyst, accepted a promotion to linebackers coach on Thursday. Brent Brennan, the Spartans football head coach, made the announcement.

White brings 10 seasons of college coaching and noteworthy recruiting experiences to his new position with Spartans. Most notably, he was a UCLA football assistant for eight seasons (2010-17) who worked with head coaches Rick Neuheisel and Jim Mora, Jr.

“We are very excited about Scott White taking over as our new linebackers coach. He is a young coach with a lot of energy and knowledge that comes from his days at UCLA,” says Brennan.

“He’s also an outstanding recruiter. During his time at UCLA, he successfully recruited the best high school and junior college student-athletes and then nurtured, developed and molded them into NFL players over and over again.”

White was a quality control coach for the Bruins’ defense and special teams during the 2010-12 seasons, promoted to linebackers coach in 2013, and promoted again in 2015 to special teams coordinator/linebackers coach for the next three seasons.

He coached some of the nation’s top linebackers at UCLA. Eric Kendricks, currently with the Minnesota Vikings, was the 2014 Butkus Award and Lott Impact Trophy winner. In 2013, current Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack became the first player in Pac-12 Conference history to be named the conference’s “Freshman of the Year” on offense and defense. Anthony Barr, the Vikings’ 2014 first-round draft choice, was a first-team All-America and finalist for the 2013 Butkus Award.

As a special teams coordinator, he oversaw the growth of UCLA kicker Kaimi Fairbairn, the 2015 Lou Groza Collegiate Placekicking Award winner and current placekicker for the Houston Texans.

One of the top college recruiters nationally, he was recognized by 247Sports as its 2016 Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year. That same year, Rivals.com named him to its list of National Top-25 Recruiters.

The 2006 graduate of the University of Washington was a four-year starter on the 2003-06 Huskies teams. He was a team captain and second-team All-Pac 10 Conference linebacker as a senior.

He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Seattle Prep School in 2007. After two seasons, White was named the linebackers coach at Central Washington University for the 2009 season. The Wildcats posted a 12-1 win-loss record, were #1 in scoring defense, #3 in rushing defense and #4 in passing defense among all NCAA Division II schools.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be here, represent San Jose State University, work with this staff and these great kids,” says White, who replaces Bojay Filimoeatu, who was recently named to the Utah State coaching staff.