Former Gamecock Parker White finds new calling as SC high school football coach

Parker White got the teaching moment he was looking for Friday night.

White looked on from the Ridge View High School sideline as kicker Issaija Yohannes trotted on the field to attempt a game-winning field goal in the Blazers’ jamboree matchup against Chapin. The junior took his time, and jamboree rules didn’t allow Chapin players to rush him as he attempted the kick.

Still, Yohannes missed just left as the two-quarter scrimmage ended in a 10-10 tie as the Blazers wrapped up the preseason . Ridge View opens the regular season Friday against Fairfield Central.

“For my first game coaching here and to come down to a game-winner, I’m here for it,” White told The State after the game. “I would have preferred he made it, but I’d rather him be in the situation and learn from it. I’d rather it happen now in a scrimmage than a game. We aren’t 0-1, but it might feel like it to him.

“He hit a 35-yarder earlier, so he had the highest of highs and lowest low in the same game. That is what I was trying to coach him through. Every kick is independent so own what you do.”

White is in his second year as a high school football assistant coach and first with Ridge View. And he’s finding satisfaction in coaching and teaching.

After Friday’s jamboree, White talked with the Blazers’ kickers and put his hand on Yohannes’ helmet and offered words of encouragement to the converted soccer player.

“This is a learning moment and only a scrimmage. We are all going to miss kicks,” White said. “Now, if they are in big moments, it is a tougher pill to swallow. But there are a lot of good things to look at that you can use to fuel the fire.”

The former South Carolina kicker can relate. He’s been there before. White missed his share of kicks in his college career, including going 11-of-19 on field goals in 2020 before he came back to USC for his sixth year of eligibility.

In the 2021 season, White was nearly flawless for the Gamecocks, hitting 16-of-17 field goal attempts, including a career-best 54-yarder and all 30 extra-point attempts.

White finished his career as the Gamecocks’ all-time scoring leader with 368 points. He also was first in field goals made (72), tied for first in field-goals attempted (99) while being second in extra-points made (152).

“He’s automatic. He’s clutch. I don’t know if there’s a better kicker in the country,” USC football coach Shane Beamer said of White in 2021.

After USC, White got a few opportunities to make an NFL, the last coming with the Green Bay Packers in 2023 . He was signed in February of that year before being cut in May.

White still has NFL aspirations and works out kicking when he has time. For now, he’s busy helping the Ridge View special teams. He looked the part of a coach on the sideline Friday, wearing a stopwatch around his neck to time kicks and punts while carrying a three-ring notebook.

“I’m still trying to put my name in the hat some, but I’ve got bills to pay,” White said. “I do find some time to kick now and then. For now, I am focused on Ridge View having a great year.”

White said he tires to implement things he learned at USC from his special teams coaches with the Gamecocks — Coleman Hutzler and Pete Lembo. He coached last season at First Baptist in Charleston, where he attended nearby Wando High, but moved back to the Midlands after he got married in February. The former Gamecock said he enjoyed coaching so much last year that he wanted to stay with it.

White was doing kicking lessons in the area and River Bluff special teams coach Anthony Giugliano put him in touch with Ridge View coach Derek Howard. Giugliano and Howard were teammates in high school at Ridge View.

White spent the summer working with the Blazers kickers and then asked Howard if he could stay on for the season. He also got a job at the school teaching marketing and entrepreneurship.

“We are blessed that Parker has transitioned in the education system,” Howard said. “We got him certified and he has been a great addition to our program. He has been a great addition to our kickers who are soccer kids, and the last two months he has been here has been amazing. We know he will make us a better team.”

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