Definitely White in my book. If his last name was Smith no one would question it. And the bookend tackles is great to see, does any team currently start two White tackles?
Wrote/typed pretty extensively regarding Lomu in this thread
back on November 11th. I included links that featured Lomu's family photos (Sports247 link) in that post.
I absolutely consider him White.
N.Y. Yankee Austin Wells was the starting catcher for the Dominican Republic for the W.B.C., due to his mother's family ties. I absolutely see Wells as White. As the DWF's on Reddit joked, regarding Wells, "
now we know which family controlled the sugar fields in the DR".
Here's what I wrote about Lomu back in December (not posted on CF board). "
Nystrom" part makes a lot of sense, I think.
I would definitely count Lomu as White. I explained it in the NFL draft thread (with photos). Blonde hair, blue-eyes, fair-skin?
I would not consider the OT from Florida (Austin Barber) White. I contrasted him and Lomu in the draft thread and it's clear, if they were both named "Nystrom", you'd think Lomu is the real Swede and Barber was the 3rd world interloper that invaded Stockholm. Barber actually looks like an oversized version of the "Maryland Dad"...creepy Goblin Trump can't seem to deport!
Extra Points/observations.
*** Regarding Lomu, he only played 2 years at Utah. Had he stayed in school another year, he might've been a slam dunk top 10 pick...perhaps even Top 5.
***
Freethinker, excellent observations in post #411. I actually started to write/type that before tonight's draft (due to a question posed by Leo last night) but just had to "run". So I stopped typing the post/deleted it and left. But I was mentioning Houston and Chicago would be very likely to be this years version of Cleveland 2025 (or Arizona Cardinals 2019 or Denver Broncos 2023) -- basically all black team adding Whites. Carolina and Miami are in similar boats, but I didn't see them going white (wrong on Carolina).
When Minnesota shunned Dillon T. I really feared Chicago would take him. I wasn't wrong.
Last year Bears had zero Whites on defense. Last 4 or 5 years, only 1 (Jack Sandborn)....Now with Sandborn back, Dillon T. and James Lynch (DT), they could have 3. The black GM might've felt some pressure to add some Whites ...or the locker room vibe/effort level was so bad on defense, they needed some "lunch pail" types? Dillon T. is from Indiana, where the Bears are trying to build a new Stadium, BTY.
Another “short armed” black athlete gets the 1st round treatment. DT Peter Woods of Clemson, who had woeful stats in 2025. He was productive however in 2024 and I don’t believe arm length means much when analyzing a player. Just making the case that a similar player if White would be a day 3 pick or UDFA.
****I mentioned Peter Woods extensively in the Jordan Van den Berg thread and prior posts in this thread. Jordan beat him in both stats and athletic testing -- by far in R.A.S.
*** Oy, I just have
to tell the "truth".... One of the "low-lights" of the night, and I only watched a fraction of the draft, was OT Freeling hugging his black/mulatto girlfriend. She was almost his size, so I assume she's a Bulldogs basketball or volley ball player...Perhaps shot put?