FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Here comes No. 36.
Mike White will be the 36th different quarterback to start for the New York Jets in the post-Joe Namath era, which covers 44 seasons. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime shot. Maybe he will get a second start, even a third, but it's back to the bench as soon as rookie Zach Wilson recovers from his knee injury.
Still, there's always a fascination when a relative unknown gets thrust into the spotlight, which happens for White on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals at MetLife Stadium (1 p.m. ET, CBS). On Halloween Day, the Jets will unmask their QB2.
"I'm starting an NFL game, so that's pretty freaking cool," White said Thursday.
A few factoids about No. 36:
1) The Jets cut him four times last season, each time bringing him back on the practice squad. That means the rest of the NFL had four opportunities to steal him on waivers -- and no one did. This summer, he beat out 2020 draft pick James Morgan for the backup job. They eschewed the idea of signing an experienced player, in large part, because of their belief in White.
"There's been a lot of ups and downs, but I think personally I'm proud of how I handled it," said White, who passed for 202 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions last week in his NFL debut against the New England Patriots.
2) White broke into the league as a 2018 fifth-round pick (No. 171 overall) of the Dallas Cowboys, who were impressed by his performance at the Senior Bowl (two touchdown passes). He was the eighth quarterback drafted that year, 168 spots behind former Jets starter Sam Darnold and 28 spots ahead of Luke Falk, who was 33rd on the post-Namath list.
White was in rare company because Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones doesn't draft quarterbacks too often. He was the sixth in Jones' tenure, which began in 1989. Ultimately, White failed to win a backup job and was released the following preseason, landing on the Jets' practice squad.
3) An NFL scout, digging up pre-draft reports on White, recalled him this way: "His intangibles are really good. He's smart, a good kid, picks up things quickly and works at it. He's not mobile. He has good size (6-foot-5, 218) and his arm his good. His short accuracy is very good, but his long accuracy and long touch aren't good."
Another scout said White's "mobility has improved. He's functional on boots, etc., but he's not a runner. Good passer. He's accurate on-schedule. Off-platform and ad-lib plays are not his game. This is a huge opportunity for him. He needs the offensive line to help. I would think he plays within the system if he can get any level of protection."
4) Baseball was White's first love. As a kid in South Florida, he followed the Florida Marlins and was able to recite every player on the roster. When he was 2, his father worked with him in the backyard and created a drill to improve Mike's batting eye. His father wrote X's and O's on whiffle balls, and Mike's job was to identify the ball before he took a cut.
Pitching became his thing, as it turned out. He developed a 90 mph fastball and, as a high school junior, he posted a 9-2 record with a 0.43 ERA at the NSU University School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was a Louisville Slugger All-American, but he was lured away by football. As a senior, his first year as the starting quarterback, White led his team to the 3A state championship, throwing the go-ahead touchdown with 5:54 left in the game. Ranked as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, he committed to South Florida to play football.
He still keeps in touch with one of his childhood baseball buddies, the New York Mets' Luis Guillorme. In fact, they spoke just last week. White believes the mechanics of throwing a baseball carried over to football.
"It's funny how, growing up, I was all baseball," he said. "Somewhere in high school, I went football and (my friends) went baseball."
5) After two lackluster years at South Florida, White transferred because the Bulls switched to a zone-read offense, which didn't fit his skill set. He landed at Western Kentucky, where he passed for 8,540 yards and 63 touchdowns in two seasons. He also was sacked 44 times in his final season. He gained a lot of confidence in college. By the time he got to the Senior Bowl, White was bursting with it. In one TV interview, he said, "If you ask me, I see myself going No. 1 overall. That's just sort of the confidence I play with and it's how I was raised."