Jordan Whittington has more challenges to overcome to achieve his professional dreams
Jordan Whittington has overcome numerous challenges since his days at Cuero High School. He’s been under the knife multiple times to repair soft tissue injuries dating back to 2018. He missed games at Texas in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 seasons (though for a broken collarbone in ’21) before arguably working harder than anyone in the program to stay on the field in 2022 and 2023.
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That hard work led to playing in all 27 games in the past two years, arguably the best stretch of football of his career. It earned him an invite to the Senior Bowl, but due to a hamstring injury he could not participate. At the NFL Combine, Whittington is reportedly only doing the bench press in addition to going through medical testing and meetings with teams because of a setback with that hamstring.
So circle March 20, when Texas’ pro timing day is scheduled. That’s when Whittington will have his chance to showcase his athletic and wide receiver skills and try to overcome yet another obstacle in his path and pursue his dream of playing professional football.
Only being able to bench is not a positive for Whittington’s chances of getting drafted as it’s just another bullet point on his injury history. But he’s willing to work through it because he wants to exhaust every single avenue available toward becoming a NFL player.
“I don’t know if y’all have ever seen it, but there’s a video with Kerry Washington where she talks about a bus. If you’re walking to the bus, and say the bus is your dream, and that bus leaves, you never know if it was your bus or not,” Whittington said Friday. “But if you’re busting your ass to get to that bus, running full speed and jumping over every fence — which I had a lot of fences in my career — and that bus still leaves then maybe that bus wasn’t meant for you. You can be happy knowing you did everything to get there.”
Whittington posted strong numbers in 2022, hauling in 50 catches for 652 yards and one touchdown. His numbers dipped some in 2023, with 42 catches for 505 yards and one score. But his impact on the team was massive in ways that are hard to measure.
“For the last two years, year-and-a-half, this guy is the first guy in our building,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said in November. “You talk about culture, now he’s got six or seven other guys that are showing up as early as him or earlier than him. He used to be the earliest guy by far to have maintenance on his body or get his body right. He was always a selfless player because he knew the value of opportunity and reps because he had to change positions; he had injuries.”
Put another way by Sarkisian: “I don’t know if there’s another guy in our locker room who is more respected than Jordan Whittington.”
That respect only goes so far when NFL franchises are deciding whether or not to spend one of their draft picks on a player. To determine if Whittington is worth a selection, they’ll need more data. The Longhorns’ pro timing day on March 20 will be the most important day (so far) of Whittington’s professional career.
For J-Whitt, another fence he’ll have to clear to catch his desired bus.
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“That’s what I’m doing right now and what I’ve been doing my whole life, just running full speed to catch this bus and this dream,” Whittington said. “I’m here now. I’m almost there. I see the bus that says April 25-27 on it. I’m right there. I’m not slowing down. Hopefully I make it on it.”
