Buffalo Bills draft a mature cornerback in Tre'Davious White

• Tre'Davious White and his girlfriend are expecting their first child next week.
• White grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana and was valedictorian of his high school class.
• He earned his degree in sports administration at LSU.

ORCHARD PARK – Tre’Davious White means no disrespect to anyone, but sorry, he’s not turning off his cell phone, not this week for sure.

White, the Bills’ first-round draft choice out of LSU, is about to become a father as he and his girlfriend are expecting their first child next week.

“When you’re sitting in the meeting room with coaches you’re told to turn your phone off so there’s no distractions,” White said Friday during his first news conference with western New York reporters, about 18 hours after he was selected with the 27th overall pick. “I’m the complete opposite, my phone is on ringer and it’s as loud as it can be. I don’t want to miss nothing.”

But it’s funny, in the next breath he admitted that there’s a good chance he will miss the birth, and it has nothing to do with anything related to football or the demands placed on him by his new employer. “I’ve been talking to my girl and I know it’s going to be one of the best days of my life, but I told her I probably won’t be able to experience it because I’ll be in the room, but I’ll probably be blacked out,” he said with a laugh.

Hey, bigger and badder men than the 5-foot-11, 193-pound White have melted in the delivery room, so no one’s going to hold that against him.

White looked like the happiest guy in the world as he stood in front of media, members of the Bills’ organization and his family. He came off as energetic, poised, intelligent, all things that played a key role in Bills coach Sean McDermott making White the first draft pick of his NFL head coaching career.

► A good first day for the Bills

► Tre'Davious White a good fit for Bills

“Certainly, with the character in this case that Tre’Davious White has, we felt good about the person off the field,” McDermott said. “He’s a solid person, a solid football player. He’s a guy that wore No. 18 at LSU (given to outstanding leaders) and we know what that means in terms of the tradition of wearing No. 18 at LSU. So you know what type of person we’re getting.”

White grew up amid tough circumstances in Shreveport, Louisiana, and all around him, kids were making poor choices. White never wavered in his belief that he was going to do things the right way. He became valedictorian of his high school class, went to LSU and obtained his degree in sports administration, all the while succeeding in one of America’s top football programs in what is still regarded as the toughest conference in the college game, the SEC.

“Growing up I had family members and some best friends that went the wrong route,” he said. “I didn’t want to do that. You’ll hear me say over and over, my purpose is to motivate and inspire. My mindset was just because I’m in this situation, I’m not going to stay here. Just because I’m living a certain way, this isn’t going to be my whole life. My dad can tell you, I worked out probably three times a day growing up. It was bigger than football, I wanted to get my degree and the kids in my community, seeing me do that and passing on money, they’d see it isn’t all about that.”

White was a four-year starter at LSU, a reliable and consistent player who never wowed anyone but was always there to make a play when one needed to be made. He could have left school last year, and he thinks he might have been a first-round pick in 2016, too, but he’s glad he stayed in school.

“I knew God had a plan for me and this was my plan right along,” he said. “I wanted to become a more complete player and I wanted to mature as a person. I knew last year as a 21-year-old I wasn’t ready for the lifestyle of an NFL player. I wasn’t going to be able to balance the two, so I wanted the extra year to enjoy myself with my friends and mature as a player and a person. And getting the opportunity to get my college degree was something I always wanted to do. I didn’t want to just be known as an athlete that plays ball, I wanted to be known as a guy that did both and took both seriously.”

Character. Discipline. Leadership. Buzz words around OneBuffalo these days, if you listen to Bills/Sabres owner Terry Pegula. In White, the Bills have a player who possesses healthy doses of all three.

MAIORANA@Gannett.com