Game vs. Temple a homecoming for Penn State's Wartman-White
MLB was born in Philadelphia, but made a name for himself once the family moved away.
STATE COLLEGE - There was one point growing up in Philadelphia, Penn State middle linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White said, when his family lived in a place that afforded him a view of Lincoln Financial Field.
He always dreamed of playing there, which, at that time was far-fetched, seeing as he didn't participate in any organized sports, much less football.
"Look at me now, eight, nine years later," he said yesterday, as he peered ahead to the Nittany Lions' season opener against Temple, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field.
Yes, just look at him. He has a new position, having moved from an outside spot to replace the graduated Mike Hull, last year's Big Ten Linebacker of the Year. The redshirt junior also has a new name, having hyphenated it on Mother's Day to honor his mom, Veronica White - "a very strong woman," he said.
The thing is, Wartman-White almost certainly wouldn't be playing this Saturday (or any other) if his family hadn't moved from Philadelphia to the town of Archbald, in Northeastern Pennsylvania, when he was in eighth grade. Only then did he begin playing organized sports. Only then, at Valley View High School, did he develop into a major-college talent.
Still, he said, "For the rest of my life, I'll see myself as a Philly guy."
Archbald has been only too happy to borrow him.
"He's a great kid," Valley View coach George Howanitz said. "He's a great kid to talk to, easy to talk to, happy-go-lucky - very kind, caring."
Wartman-White keeps in touch with his old coach, as well as several teammates from a squad that won a District 2 championship his senior year (2011). They saw him grow from a skinny kid toward his current dimensions; listed at 6-1, he is "a cheeseburger away from 250 pounds," according to PSU head coach James Franklin.
Wartman-White contributed 75 tackles to one of the nation's best defenses last season. Now, he will be stationed directly behind standout tackles Anthony Zettel and Austin Johnson.
"In some ways, between the tackles, we may be even more stout," Franklin said.
Which is saying something, seeing as Hull's 140 stops led the conference in 2014.
"We haven't missed a beat," Johnson said of Wartman-White. "He's going to be really good for us back there."
All thanks to a trip up the Northeast Extension.
"He's following his dream," Veronica White said. "He's doing what he always wanted to do. It's something I didn't even think he had in him until I actually saw him play. I'm, like, 'Oh, this kid is pretty good.' He shocked me."
Nyeem is the youngest of her five children. She adopted three others. (Nyeem, son of Warren Wartman, also has five siblings on his father's side.)
Veronica moved the family when Nyeem's stepfather, Kenyatta Jones, took a construction job up north. Also after Nyeem's brother, Markel White, recovered from gunshot wounds to the chest - incurred, Veronica said, when Markel was robbed.
"I took that really hard," she said, "because I thought I was going to lose my son."
Her youngest son, meanwhile, found himself after the move to Archbald (population 7,000).
"I know he loves Philadelphia, and our town is very different from that," Howanitz said of Wartman-White. "We don't have a lot of minority students, so that was probably a big adjustment for him. But he fit in very well. Early on, he clicked with the kids and hung around with the right kids and did the right things, made good decisions . . . Didn't have a chip on his shoulder. Wasn't trying to be anything that he's not. I think that made the adjustment very easy for him."
Brian Lalli, a high school teammate of Wartman-White's and now a wide receiver at Colgate, said Nyeem "acclimated into our community almost instantly."
That he was such a superb athlete no doubt helped; besides football, Wartman-White competed in basketball and track. But so, too, did his disposition.
"You can bring him into a roomful of strangers," Lalli said, "and within 5 minutes, he's striking up conversations with half the room, has everybody laughing."
Everything will come full-circle for Wartman-White on Saturday. He expects at least 20 friends and family members to be on hand. (Lalli might make it, too, seeing as a hip injury has him headed for a redshirt season.)
And never mind that Veronica was only recently released from the hospital, after being treated for high blood pressure.
"I'm definitely going to make the trip to Philadelphia, no matter what," she said.
She can only hope it proves as fruitful as the one she made in the other direction, all those years ago.