On Texas Football: How Jordan Whittington can help open up Texas’ offense from the slot
On the latest video episode of On Texas Football, Inside Texas’ Bobby Burton and Ian Boyd discuss the projected impact of slot receiver Jordan Whittington and Boyd’s recent story on how the Longhorns can better “weaponize” the senior standout in the 2023 campaign.
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Whittington was limited in his impact last year when Texas used more two tight end sets, which resulted in him being split from the rest of the line and being utilized as a blocker or a short-yardage option. Whittington had 50 catches for 652 yards and just one TD In 2022 with a long catch of 32 yards.
“A lot of what Whittington does best he does from the slot,” Boyd said. “When he’s outside and he needs to get off press coverage and run outside routes, where it’s it stop-and-go or it’s fend off a corner and win, those are those are not really been his strong points.”
Boyd outlined in his story ways Whittington can be unleashed.
“His strong points have been when he has space to go inside or outside, break out for the ball, catch short passes and run after the catch,” Boyd explained. “He can motion into the backfield for the ball, or motion into the backfield to block. He does a lot of things really, really well but you can’t do those things if you’re standing up outside of the line of scrimmage as an outside receiver.”
Boyd compared Whittington to former Longhorns’ receiver Devin Duvernay, who spent his first three seasons on the 40 Acres outside but blossomed and became a real force when he was moved to the slot in 2019.
“I don’t know that we’re gonna see THAT with Jordan Whittington just because Texas has so many other weapons,” Boyd said. “But if they wanted to use him that much they could and I think he could do something similar.”
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If Whittington affects the coverage of the safety, that safety can’t help on coverage with the outside receivers. Having him as an impact player makes the whole offense better.
Burton asked Boyd how opponents will defend the Texas offense as the Longhorns move to more of a passing game with Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson off to the NFL.
“Ultimately, it’s about getting that safety,” Boys said. “If the safety there on his side has to worry about him, and they can’t give as much attention to whatever route the guy outside is running, whether it’s a curl or a post or whatever it is, they can’t guard both. So if he’s forcing a safety bracket, anything that they are doing vertical on his side, it frees the outside guy up.”
There’s plenty of more to watch and heat from Burton and Boyd’s discussion so go watch the video in its entirety.
