James White grabs first team reps in practice

Photo from ESPN.com

According to NFL.com, running back James White is starting to pick up steam in Patriots camp and he has observers, including Bill Belichick, gushing over his performance in training camp.

NFL.com reports that he split 1st-team action with Shane Vereen during the joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles, while veteran Stevan Ridley was relegated to taking snaps with the 2nd team.

Here's what coach Bill Belichick had to say about White on SiriusXM:

He's a very interesting and versatile player," Belichick said on SiriusXM NFL Radio earlier this month. "He does a good job in the passing game and in the running game -- both inside and outside. Blitz pickup -- we have a pretty extensive offense for him to learn, but he's working hard at it.

"We'll just let him go and see how it goes, but I think he has the ability to compete on all three downs, in both the running game and the passing game."

And while he wasn't the first running back taken in the draft, he has an opportunity to make the biggest splash of all the rookie running backs with the departure of LeGarrette Blount and the well-documented fumbling issues last season. He only had nine yards on four carries in his 1st preseason game, but expect him to get a bigger workload on Friday if he keeps performing well.

Of course, this is all preseason, so let's not blow this out of proportion, but if he does keep this up, I'm excited to see where this kid goes.