“I know he’s going to be very emotional. All of us this week, seeing him out there, were pretty emotional,” Jason Maas says.
The big one, from the bottom of his thigh to near his calf, has 26 staples, the Alouettes receiver said. The other, on the front of his knee, has close to 12. White doesn’t look at them much any longer, concentrating on the future while putting the past in his rear-view mirror.
“After the surgery I couldn’t wait to see it,” White said earlier this week. “It was wrapped up for a week and a half. I couldn’t wait to unwrap it and see the scar. There’s a lot of staples and I shot a video. It was cool to me but I know people don’t like seeing that.”
“I know he’s going to be very emotional,” head coach Jason Maas said. “All of us this week, seeing him out there, were pretty emotional. I think it’s going to be an awesome moment for him. He worked his butt off to get back to this level.”
White, 6-foot-2 and 227 pounds, was coming into his own when the injury occurred. It was his first full season as a starter and he caught 53 passes for 722 yards, scoring two touchdowns, in 15 games. He has the size and speed to make a difference on the field, while contributing to an offence that continues taking a back seat to the defensive performances produced.
“I’m fired up for him, not anxious at all,” Als receivers coach Mike Lionello said. “I’m over the moon excited for him to have this opportunity, and especially against Ottawa.
“He looks like the Reggie White we know — a big body that can run, move, change directions and box you out for the ball. I can’t wait.”
Neither, it seems, can White. He has plenty of family — including his girlfriend and 19-month-old son — coming from Baltimore to witness his return and contribute emotional support. The injury proved to be a blessing in one sense, allowing him to return home and witness the birth of Reggie White III two weeks later. White wears a bracelet with the word family on his right wrist.
White’s time away from the field was long, he admitted, an emotional roller-coaster of highs and lows; the occasional doubt whether this day would ever arrive creeping into his mind.
“I didn’t cry and I wasn’t down,” he said. “I wasn’t up, but never lost my faith. Some days I’d wake up feeling good. Some days … I didn’t know if I’d be able to come back because the knee was hurting. Watching the games was tough. It was hard for me to sit there and watch. But I definitely gained a lot of knowledge, sitting there watching and being patient. I’m grateful. It let me enjoy the journey.”
Other than practice, White never has caught a pass that meant anything from quarterback Cody Fajardo. The two have been spending extra time together this week, White asking Fajardo plenty of questions about route-running and what the QB wants to see from him.
“We might be a little rusty here and there,” White admitted. “But once we get that connection truly down, I think it’ll be a sight to see. The toughest part will be getting my wind back the first couple of drives; getting the connection with Fajardo. But it’s going to be like riding a bicycle again. I’m excited. I’ve been waiting for this day a long, long time.”
“You can’t expect him to be, for anybody … you can’t expect them to be themselves,” Lionello said. “But there’s no reason why they can’t. You have to understand they’ve had a lot of time off.”