More than No. 3: Jared White beyond the field

To Bobcat football fans, Jared White is an outstanding running back who wears jersey No. 3. But this season, White has been sharing another side of himself with the world. From game days to weekday resets, White shows his growing audience on Instagram a glimpse of what it’s like to be a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) player competing in the Big Sky Conference.

“I wanted to start last year because I saw a couple of college athletes doing it,” he said. However, White held off making videos until his girlfriend encouraged him to do so this season. “The mindset was if I could go back to high school, what would I want to see personally? And that’s really how I make my videos,” he said. 

Even in the midst of football season, White finds time to post vlogs consistently. “Just staying one step ahead. Just thinking of an idea before I actually have to make it. So I post videos pretty much the day after I record them, edit them that night. Then just stay on top of writing down my ideas, whatever comes into my head, getting ideas from other creators on social media, stuff like that,” White said.  

He continues to stay motivated to post vlogs by none other than his teammates. “Everyone’s like, ‘Can I be in a video?’ So everybody likes it, that’s for sure,” he said.  

White is also in touch with his high school running back coach, who reached out asking White about the running backs he currently has on his high school roster. 

“If he’s asking me questions, I know a bunch of high school athletes — running backs — have probably the same questions,” he said. “So I might as well share it with as many people as I can.” 

Within his vlogs, White often speaks about the importance of finding things to do outside of your sport. For him, this may look like golf or taking walks with his dog. 

“Coming here, Jared White was all football. That’s all I was,” he said. “Then I got hurt my true freshman year. That was the first time I’d ever been hurt. So I was like, ‘What do I do now?’ So just trying to figure out [how to] navigate being hurt for the first time [and] not playing football. Just not going crazy really was a really big challenge for me. So that was really the headspace there.”

White is originally from Frisco, Texas, and he decided to come to MSU after meeting with MSU’s previous offensive coordinator, Taylor Housewright. “The offensive coordinator at the time, [Housewright], found me right before their national championship game in ‘21. Came to my high school, talked to me,” he said. “And since then, I knew that this was home.”

White spoke about taking the loss in the 2024 National Championship game versus North Dakota State in his hometown of Frisco, Texas.

“I actually played in that stadium in high school, so it was very familiar to me. Everybody on our team says that was the coldest game of the year,” he said. “Losing at home never feels great, especially where I’m from, it felt even worse.” Despite the loss, the team fought back the following season, winning the 2025 national championship game in Nashville. 

“Getting the win for the guys on the national stage, it was probably the best feeling any of us could ever have really,” White said.

White said that his favorite part of playing in Bobcat Stadium is, without a doubt, the fans. White said he is excited the infamous Brawl of the Wild matchup is coming to Bozeman soon. “It’s electric every year. Just hearing the crowd go crazy. Yeah, that’s a great feeling,” he said.  

White’s most challenging game so far this season was against Central Connecticut State. “It’s a team we’ve never played before, so we had to navigate that. And then we were down two touchdowns at the half and that really never happens, especially at home. So that was something new to navigate,” he said. “We were like, ‘Okay, we’ve never really been here before, but we know what it takes to actually get the win.’” 

Going into the playoffs this season, White wants to play against Stephen F. Austin State University, as that team also hails from Texas. 

When asked which teammate he would least trust to take over his vlogs, White chose fellow running back Shanko Kornachuk. “I don’t know what he would put in those videos; you don’t want to know,” he said.

For a short clip of the Exponent’s interview with Jared White, along with his other vlogs, check out his Instagram @jared2white.