During training camp in August, Pitt coaches noted that freshman safety Jordan Whitehead might not always be perfect in his technique or alignment, but his production was always at the top of chart.
Through five games, not much has changed, and that’s good news for the Panthers. Even as he’s still adjusting to the college game, Whitehead leads the Panthers with 41 tackles on the season after making a game-high 12 stops in Saturday’s win over Virginia.
“He’s still not doing everything perfectly,” defensive coordinator Josh Conklin said. “He still makes some freshman mistakes, but he had a heck of a game on Saturday and doesn’t miss very many tackles.
“A lot of what he’s doing right now has nothing to do with coaching or anything like that. It’s because he’s a talented football player.”
Whitehead earned ACC rookie of the week honors for his performance against the Cavaliers, but said he’s still just focused on limited the little mistakes.
“I just kind of let it go past my head,” he said. “Just stay humble and try to keep [remembering] that you can always get better.
“When the season’s over, we can talk about all the individual stats, but first off I’m going to worry about the team.”
Right now, the team is benefiting from Whitehead’s eagerness to get in there and get his nose dirty. He’s listed at just 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, but isn’t reluctant to tackle players bigger than him.
“It’s just determination, I think,” Whitehead said.
When that determination is combined with Whitehead’s recruiting pedigree — he was a four-star recruit out of Central Valley and the highest-ranked player in Pitt’s 2015 class — the result is a very productive football player.
“Sometimes when you recruit those highly recruited guys, you don’t know how physical he’s going to be,” Conklin said. “There’s no question he’s a physical guy and he likes contact. He’s a football player, a real football player, which is exactly what we thought we were getting.”
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG.
First Published: October 13, 2015, 6:18 p.m.