Whittington gets more Kancey comparisons on official visit
Jahsear Whittington has heard the comparisons.
Any 6’0” 280-pound defensive tackle going to Pitt is going to hear them after Calijah Kancey, a similarly-sized defensive tackle who earned All-America honors with the Panthers, was taken in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
So it was no surprise that when Whittington took his official visit to Pitt this past weekend, defensive line coach Charlie Partridge emphasized those very comparisons.
“He showed me a couple clips of Calijah at NFL camp that we compared to me,” Whittington told Panther-Lair.com. “That’s a first-round Draft pick and you can see that, but you can see the similarities. You can also see the separation, the things he learned from Coach Partridge.
“You see we have the same body type, the same twitchiness, the same level of play where we can go interior or exterior and we can beat the interior linemen who can’t move."
Of course, this past weekend wasn’t the first time Whittington has heard of Kancey. The four-star defensive tackle prospect from Imhotep in Philadelphia has been committed to the Panthers since last April - he was Pitt’s first commitment in the class - and he has been hearing about and watching Kancey since then.
That includes this spring, when Whittington saw the former Panther go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 19th overall pick in the Draft.
“It’s crazy, I started off at my coach’s house watching the Draft and I was pretty excited to see Jalen Carter come to Philly,” Whittington said of his Draft night experience. “Once I got home, I was just about to walk away from the TV and [Kancey] got picked. I was excited for him; it felt like he was my big brother getting drafted. I texted him congrats and it was a special moment.
“I saw him on that draft stage and I could see me being there in three or four years, and that was motivation, A lot of people texted me and said, ‘I can’t wait until that’s you up there.’”
A big part of Whittington’s path to the NFL will be the coaching he gets from Partridge. The Pitt assistant played a significant role in getting Whittington to the Panthers in the first place, and the official visit further cemented that bond.
“We all know he’s one of if not the best D-line coach in college football, and spending time with him was great. Every time he sees me, he has so much energy. He sees me as his next prodigy and I see him as my guideline to the NFL. He can get me where I want to be.
“He’s very smart, very detailed with a lot of things. When we were going over film, he was teaching me little things that will make me a better player. That helps me level up my game already.
“Coaches are coaches; they demand things and I’m fine with that, I’m very coachable. And I have a great relationships with him so if he tells me something, I’m going to listen to him, follow that blueprint that’s been working the last few years.”
Partridge’s work with other “undersized” tackles isn’t lost on Whittington.
“The football and recruiting world will never change: everybody will take the 6’6” guy who can’t move as well over the 6’1” guy who’s actually dominant,” Whittington said. “That comes with the game. But that doesn’t matter to me. I found my place. I found my home where they breed undersized defensive tackles who go to the league.”
Whittington was Pitt’s first commitment in the class, but by the time his official visit ended, 20 more recruits had joined him - including five prospects who also visited this weekend.
“I wanted to get everybody to commit,” Whittington said. “I wanted to get Koy Beasley. I wanted to get Yasin Willis; that would be a one-two punch with Juelz (Goff) like Izzy (Abanikanda) and Rodney Hammond. I definitely want to get Cam Lindsey; he’s a great linebacker who’s physical and fast and understands the game. I can tell his whole perception has changed on Pitt. I’m trying to get everybody to come play with us.”
Whittington will continue working on getting more recruits to join him at Pitt, but after his official visit, he’s also anxiously looking ahead to next summer when he can be part of the team himself.
“If I could go there right now, I would because I’m so comfortable with them,” Whittington said. “Those are key factors that go into going to a school. My parents love me and it’s going to be hard to let me go, but they feel so comfortable up there. They had a great time. Coach (Pat) Narduzzi shows them a lot of love. It’s a whole bunch of love there. It’s a family.”