The waiting game is nearly over for all football fans when the NFL Draft kicks off Thursday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN and the NFL Network, but the nerves for several local football prospects will last throughout the weekend when the draft ends Saturday evening.

One local player that won't have to wait long to hear his name called is former Emmaus wide receiver Kevin White, as the West Virginia Mountaineer could become the highest drafted NFL player to ever come from the Lehigh Valley, since the AFL-NFL merger in 1966.

Chuck Bednarik will always hold the top spot of local football products, as he was the first pick in the 1949 NFL draft, but White will put a former Green Hornet to the test on Thursday for local history, as Emmaus and Penn State grad, Keith Dorney, was selected 10th overall in the first round of the 1979 draft by the Detroit Lions.

"I would think that Kevin is a lock to be drafted in the top-10," said Jason Brader, owner of FASST Performance in Easton, who helped train White throughout his years at Lackawanna College and during the offseason. "It's great to see guys put in the work and get rewarded this way."

White will join a recent migration of local players that have been drafted in the NFL, as Parkland's Andre Williams and Liberty's Devin Street were both selected last year. Williams went in the fourth round to the New York Giants, while Devin Street was picked in the fifth round by the Dallas Cowboys.

Bethlehem Catholic head coach Joe Henrich was an assistant at Emmaus during White's time and clearly remembers how he blossomed from a skinny freshman into a budding senior.

"He was like a baby giraffe his freshman and sophomore years," Henrich said. "He was really skinny and awkward. Then the spring of his junior year he started growing and he really got bigger and stronger. He made a lot of plays for us that year and that's when he really came about."

White was unavailable for comment for this story, but has plenty of interest from teams picking in the top-10 looking for wide receiver help, as Oakland, Jacksonville, Chicago and St. Louis have all been rumored landing spots.

Former Freedom offensive lineman and New Hampshire center, Mike Coccia, has also quietly made his mark on draft boards, as he's spoken with 11 teams and had a private workout with Philadelphia and was flown out to Oakland this month.

Coccia is ready for this weekend to get under way and is projected to be a late round pick.

"This has been a long process the past couple of months," he said. "At this point, I'm ready for the weekend. I just want to be part of an NFL team."

Coccia will spend the weekend in Bethlehem, watching the draft coverage and waiting.

Liberty's Jarrod West has a chance of getting signed this weekend, as the Syracuse wideout has picked up interest from teams, most notably Miami. His former Hurricane teammate, Anthony Gonzalez, also hopes to latch onto an NFL team, as the former state champion quarterback for Liberty, is now a converted linebacker from Pitt.

"I've been playing basketball with Jarrod since middle school, so it's cool to see us in position to live out our dreams this weekend," Coccia said. "I think with all the talent we have in the Lehigh Valley, it says a lot about the area that we have so many guys over the past couple years make it to the NFL. Not too many places can say that."