Jordan Whittington to play versus West Virginia
Jordan Whittington, one of the more consistent playmakers in the Texas Longhorn wide receiving corps, will return to action Saturday versus West Virginia.
“He’ll play Saturday,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said on a media Zoom call Thursday.
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Whittington, who has missed every game since suffering a clavicle injury in the Red River Shootout versus Oklahoma, provides a needed offensive threat to take pressure off freshman standout Xavier Worthy in light of Bijan Robinson’s absence. Sarkisian did not mention what type of workload Whittington would be asked to handle.
In six games this season, Whittington has 24 catches for 359 yards and three touchdowns. His best performance came in the season-opener versus Louisiana when he caught seven balls for 113 yards and a score. He tallied over 70 yards versus both Texas Tech and TCU, grabbing one touchdown pass in each of those games.
Whittington has been bitten by the injury bug several times throughout his Texas career. He missed almost all of his freshman season in 2019 and parts of his 2020 season due to nagging issues associated with a sports hernia.
His clavicle injury required surgery, but the Cuero product has recovered enough to be able to play.
Whittington’s presence will be a boon for the entire receiving corps that lacks beginning-of-season starter Joshua Moore, who entered the transfer portal in recent weeks. Both Marcus Washington and Kelvontay Dixon have seen their snap count increase as a result of Moore’s departure and Whittington’s injury, but have not yet consistently had the same impact on games as Whittington.
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Washington was put into the slot on several occasions in recent games, but that’s typically where Whittington lines up when available. In Sarkisian’s offense, receiver positioning is more fluid with the head coach and playcaller moving players around in order to hunt matchups.
While Washington had some success in the slot, including a recent 100-yard game versus Kansas, his skill set is more conducive to an outside receiver role.
Whittington can line up all over the field, but he was most effective in the slot as a safety valve for Casey Thompson, who Sarkisian said will be the starting quarterback Saturday in Morgantown, W.V..
Of course, Texas has deployed two tight end looks for much of the year with Cade Brewer and Jared Wiley on the field together. As the slot receiver, Whittington would typically exit the field for those personnel changes, returning when Texas went back into 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end).
Whether that continues Saturday is to be determined, but without Robinson to help the offense move, Whittington’s ability, even coming off an injury, may be asked to carry a heavier load.
