Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but a WVU draft prospect has decided not to participate in this week’s Senior Bowl. Kevin White, who initially accepted an invitation, thought better of it, and that started to stimulate some Geno Smith parallels from two years ago.

This feels far different, though. Geno was arguably the top QB prospect in a draft that wasn’t particularly talent-laden on the QB side, so he was going to be probed and skewered. And though from start to finish he was projected to be anywhere from the No. 1 overall pick to an early second-round pick, he was never clearly one or the other and the most logical thought was a week-long audition at the Senior Bowl be good to him and for him. Even the No. 1 projections were based on him lighting up tests and combines and the like and the Chiefs sinking their future in him or hoping someone would trade for the opportunity to do so. Either way, Geno needed to do some convincing.

Then again, very rarely are the top picks subjecting themselves (read: stooping to) that exposure because they are thought to be, or think they are, better than in need of a stage to prove themselves. And we later found out skipping the Senior Bowl was at least bad advice and at most a source of conflict in his original camp.

White, it seems, is at best the top receiver  in a very good though not elite crop of prospects at his position and at worst a middle to late first-round pick. I haven’t seen him projected outside the first round, but I don’t know what mock draft to trust, especially before the Senior Bowl gets into action and opinions take root and grow.

Still, at the infancy of the process, you can tell opinions at the baseline vary — here’s one, and here’s one, and here’s one, and here’s one, and here’s one and here’s one — but that there’s a general theme: People like him. Every one of those teams has had eyes on White this season, some less often than others, some more excitedly than others.

And here’s the point, as well as the explanation for the title. Everything White did before merely got him to this favorable position, and he has much to do to push himself up or keep himself from sliding down. He’s out of sight this week, and if you look at the Senior Bowl rosters, perhaps you understand why: None of the 15 receivers are mentioned alongside White and his projections.

It would then stand to reason none are able to jump to a level where they could threaten White, though White now has to make sure he stands tall if they do, or that he won’t dip to their level.