Whittington gets the full experience on extended visit

When Jahsear Whittington came to Pitt late last week for a four-day visit, the defensive tackle commit was looking for something different from the typical recruiting trip.

Whittington arrived on Thursday night and stayed until Sunday, and while he spent plenty of time with the coaches and touring the facilities, he skipped most of the now-standard features of a recruiting visit.

He didn’t even take photos in a Pitt uniform.

“I wanted to hang out with some of the guys I know up there and I wanted to see it more than just visiting, taking pictures and leaving,” Whittington told Panther-Lair.com. “I wanted to see what the whole Pitt football experience was about. Not just what it’s like when recruits come or it’s a game; I wanted to see what it was really like to be there.”

So, instead of a photo shoot and similar activities, Whittington focused on the life of a college student-athlete - and he liked what he saw.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “I had a great time at the facility and a great time at the scrimmage; just seeing how the intensity is at the next level gave me a lot of things I can do to get myself prepared for when I get up there. And then just seeing how everything goes in college: the whole experience of their schedule and the sacrifices they have to make, it was great to be around that and see what that’s like.”

Whittington spent most of his visit with Pitt safety/former Imhotep standout Javon McIntyre, fellow safety P.J. O’Brien, running back Rodney Hammond, cornerback Marquis Williams and offensive guard Dorien Ford, among others.

“I was hanging out with all of those guys. They were telling a lot of jokes and we just had a good time there. They definitely made me feel like I was part of the team.

“Your home is always your home, but Pittsburgh is like a 75 or 80% home. When I’m there, I don’t get homesick. I get homesick when I go places sometimes, but when I was there I felt like I was a Pitt football player. It really made me feel like I was at home.

Of course, Whittington also spent plenty of time with Pitt defensive line coach Charlie Partridge. From the film room to the practice field, he watched how Partridge coached the linemen and pictured himself taking to that coaching.

“I watched the D-line a lot, just to see the technique and the little things they do, the things I have to do at the next level,” Whittington said. “Whatever Coach Partridge was telling his players, I could imagine him telling me. You learn a lot in film study, and Coach Partridge will point out the bad plays to teach you. That’s one big thing I can take with me. I have to look at my bad plays more to learn from them.

“Coach Partridge is just a great coach and an even better guy. I can definitely say that. He’s straight forward, he doesn’t sugar-coat anything.He’s a very passionate coach. If he’s yelling at you and getting on you, it’s not that he doesn’t love you; he just wants to keep winning. He is, by far, the best D-line coach in the country.”

Partridge’s most recent success story is that of Calijah Kancey, the undersized defensive tackle who earned unanimous All-America honors this past season and is trending as a first-round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

At 6’0” and 275 pounds, Whittington draws an obvious comparison to Kancey, and he doesn’t mind that connection at all.

“Coach Partridge pointed out Caliah to me before I even committed. Now everybody in the facility says I remind them of him. Them saying I look like a future first-round pick, that’s crazy. But I’m going to make my own legacy.

“They say it’s the quickness and the build, because we’re kind of built the same. Also my twitchiness. If you watch my film and watch his, he’s faster but you can see those qualities in both of our games. His is more elevated but we’re similar.”

Whittington plans to return to Pitt for the Blue-Gold Game in two weeks, and then he’s looking ahead to an official visit in June.

“I’ll probably take my official in June. I want to go when a lot of their top target guys there, because the official visit is when you reel everybody in and I want to be a part of that.”