Zach White admits it.
He considers himself a role player. And he’s proud of it.
“Every team I’ve played on,” San Diego State’s latest basketball commit said, “I’ve always thought you can be a star at your role, whatever it is.”
It is that mentality and maturity, as much as 6-foot-6 of length and athleticism, that attracted the SDSU basketball coaches to the three-star prospect from Notre Dame High School of Sherman Oaks and attracted him to the Aztecs. He verbally committed Monday afternoon during his official campus visit with his parents, picking SDSU over USC, New Mexico and Washington, among others.
White averaged 12.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season at a program that annually churns out Division I prospects. The more important stats, though, are how much the Knights win.
“People have a misunderstanding what kind of player leads to winning, and Zach only does things that lead to winning, and it’s not flashy and it’s not something for a mixtape,” coach Matt Sargeant told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year. “If you know basketball and you’re really watching the game, all he’s doing is affecting winning.
“It’s his defense, it’s his communication, it’s his rebounding. He’s constantly doing stuff that helps us win basketball games.”
Notre Dame’s Zach White and Joe Sterling of Harvard-Westlake battle for a rebound Jan. 24, 2025.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
If you’re wondering where that ethos comes from, you start with his parents, Amina and Russell, both Cal alums. His mother is a high school science teacher. You might recognize his father’s name: Russell White was All-American running back whose first collegiate touch in 1990 was a 99-yard kickoff return against Miami. He’s currently the head football coach at Flintridge Prep in La Canada.
Zach White is the youngest of three children and will be the third to play college sports. His older sister played soccer. His older brother is a sophomore linebacker at Central Michigan.
Zach White played only flag (but never tackle) football before falling in love with basketball in middle school and focusing on that. Focusing on winning.
At Notre Dame, he’s had teammates who went on to play at Duke, Gonzaga, Houston and Rutgers, along with current five-star prospect Tyran Stokes.
“I had to find a way to get on the court,” White said. “I had to do something to help us win. I had to find different ways to contribute. When you win, everyone is happy. … No one is going to remember how many points you scored in a few years. They’ll remember that you won.
“The banners will last forever. You’ll see those banners still up there 30 years from now. That’s more of an impact. There are no banners for scoring 30 points.”
Notre Dame junior Zach White drives towards the basket on Saturday, Feb.1, 2025, in Mission League action against Sierra Canyon at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Sound familiar? It is that team-first philosophy that has fueled SDSU’s ascension into college basketball’s elite, driven by defense and selflessness more than individual accolades. He compares favorably to JJ O’Brien, a 6-6 do-everything wing for the Aztecs in the mid-2010s, guarding multiple positions, handling the ball, finding open teammates, making shots when necessary, diving on the floor for loose balls, drawing charges.
“I recognized that in the program, a defensive-first team,” White said. “That’s something I looked for, a team that plays as hard as I do. I sensed that with the guys I met and the video I watched.”
White is the first prep commit for the Aztecs from the class of 2026, and probably not the last. Four other prospects have already visited or will visit in the coming weeks. Coach Brian Dutcher, while not allowed to comment on specific recruits until they sign a scholarship agreement, indicated they could take as many as three.
This, in an era where fewer programs prioritize high school recruiting and rely instead on the transfer portal to fill the roster.
“Our program is based on our high school kids,” Dutcher said. “That’s how you build culture. We’re always going to invest in high school recruiting, whether it was Nate Mensah for five years, Aguek Arop five years, Adam Seiko six years, Lamont Butler four years, Keshad Johnson four years.
“You’re trying to take guys with a chance to play right away. But you also want high-character kids from good families who know everything is not smooth sailing, that there’s going to be adversity and are going to stick it out when things aren’t going well. I’d be shocked if we didn’t have the lowest transfer rate of any program in the country. Every underclassman who could have come back (this season) came back.”
Originally Published: September 8, 2025 at 3:19 PM PDT