BOURBONNAIS — Bears rookie wide receiver Kevin White is still not being allowed to practice because of the shin injury that landed him on the PUP list. And it is getting to White just a little.
Michael Irvin – The Playmaker – stopped by Bears training camp on Thursday and spent quite some time along the sideline talking with White. The latter is still not permitted to practice because of a shin injury and dealing with different training camp difficulties than teammates up and running normally.
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“I have to talk him off the ledge right now,” Irvin told CSNChicago.com. “People look at you and wonder why you aren’t on the field. Do you know how much this kid wants to be out there?
“He’s missing things, sure. You can’t say he’s not missing things being out here running full speed and getting a sense of timing. That’s important. Getting a sense of timing, and also getting Jay’s confidence. That’s what he’s missing right now.”
And Irvin knows something of what White is going through. He injured an ankle in his rookie training camp, fell behind in the early stages of his development, but was able to play in Week 1 and 14 games of the 1988 season.
“I’m trying to make sure that Kevin’s spirit stays in the right place,” said Irvin, the No. 11-overall pick of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1988 draft. “This a great kid, a great kid. I talked with him quite a bit, and it hurts me so much to see him going through this.
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“He talks about it, working so hard to be a first-round draft choice, then drafted by a great organization like the Bears, the draft is in Chicago, and ‘I can’t even get on the field,’ he says.
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“I love hearing that. All these things are revelatory. That’s what you want in a kid. But I have to tell him, ‘Listen, I understand, but this is not West Virginia.’
“I tell them I want them to understand what it’s really like I the NFL. Because they have whole families now that are going to forego family vacations in order to go to games, because they love this.
“But if you do the wrong thing, you’ll play this season for 15-16 games. If you do the right thing, you can play for 15 years. You want to play 15 years.”