By John Connolly, Boston Herald

A year ago, droves of professional scouts arrived in Waltham to devour film and watch countless practice sessions to monitor the development of All-American offensive lineman Mackenzy Bernadeau. The Carolina Panthers ultimately drafted Bernadeau, but scouts saw something else worth returning for this fall.

The new target is 6-foot-5 quarterback John White of Kingston. Houston, Carolina, Philadelphia, the New York Giants, Arizona, Seattle and Denver have all beaten a path to the Bentley campus to view game tape and hang around practice to watch the former Archbishop Williams star throw the ball.

“Geez, you name it. Quite a few teams have been in,” said Bentley coach Peter Yetten. “Just today the Houston club was here. Carolina Panthers were here. Yesterday, we had the Eagles and Giants. Last week, Arizona Cardinals and Seahawks. The Broncos have been in a couple of times and called this morning and said they want more film. They’re all looking at him.”

White has thrown for 5,946 yards and 42 touchdowns while starting 27-of-31 career games for the Falcons (3-4, 2-2 NE-10). A dropback passer in a pro-style offense, White has hit 83-of-172 for 999 yards with four touchdowns this season while being hampered by an inexperienced offensive line and injuries in the backfield. White has tried a tad too hard to compensate for those shortcomings, which has led to an uncharacteristic 12 interceptions.cw-2

“He’s had a tough year statistic-wise. He’s been trying to force the ball and do a lot of things himself,” Yetten said. “But, if you watch this kid in practice, he’s a wonderful kid. He’s 6-5, and throws the deep ball like a pro. We’re not running the ball that well and depth-wise we’re hurting. We’ve played some physical teams and they bring the house against him. Teams know we’re weak.

“We’ve had a lot of drops. We don’t have the type of kids that can stretch the field. One (wide receiver) is in graduate school. The rest are all young kids. Babies, I call them. They’re still trying to learn the curl pattern. White’s had four different offensive coordinators in four years, too. We train them and they move along, so that’s been a transition for him.”

In today’s home game with Merrimack (3-3, 2-2), White, who also serves as the Falcons punter, will split time with mobile freshman QB Bryant Johnson and fifth-year senior Henry Morris.

But Yetten swears the rotation at QB takes nothing away from White’s ability.

“I don’t mince words,” Yetten said. “I say he’s the most talented we’ve ever had. You put (Doug) Flutie’s head and competitiveness on this kid (with) White’s body and you’ve got John Elway. Does he have the arm strength to get into a pro camp? Yes, he does. They love what they see.

“You can’t lie. Film is film and he needs some more coaching but he can fling the ball out from the hash mark to the sideline as quick as anybody. He can throw it 70 yards down field. (Scouts) just want to know if he can he do it consistently,” Yetten said.