In the months leading up to the start of fall camp, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the Top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2020 roster.
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No. 50 Jordan Whittley
6-foot-1, 333-pounds
Defensive Tackle
Redshirt Senior
Richmond, Calif.
Castlemont HS/Laney CC
2019 stats: Played in 12 games (1 start) - Recorded 14 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss in addition to a quarterback hurry and a pass breakup.
2019 Recap
Despite only being on the field for roughly 25 percent of the Beavers' total defensive snaps in 2019, everyone who saw Whittley take the field knows just what he's capable of if he's able to be a more consistent presence on the field.
The Richmond, Calif. native played in all 12 contests for Tim Tibesar's defense and recorded 14 tackles and 3.5 TFL's, but wasn't on the field as much as he or the team would have liked.
Despite this, he was still able to showcase the sheer dominance he can have on an opposing defensive line and thanks to his clock extension from the NCAA, we'll get to see what he can do with a full year entrenched in the system.
2020 Outlook
Heading into the 2020 campaign, all eyes are on Whittley.
The behemoth defensive lineman has the ability to be a game-changer for the Beavers in the trenches due to his sheer size and if he can manage to stay on the field more, he'll really be an effective player.
Whittley showed flashes of being a dominant-force last season, but it was just that, flashes. He struggled with staying on the field as a result of his conditioning and I would bet that's been priority one for him this offseason.
The 6-foot-1, 333-pounder received a clock extension from the NCAA this past offseason and will enter the 2020 campaign as a redshirt senior. Given the conditioning program that the Beavers were able to hand to Elu Aydon from 2018 to 2019 proved successful, I look for Whittley to follow a similar path.
Big Whitt was one of the Beavers' highest-graded defensive lineman per PFF in 2019, but the sample size is quite small as he only played 237 of the teams' 919 defensive snaps. In order for him to be that difference-maker than many see him capable of being, he'll need to prove he can be on the field consistently.
If Whittley has significantly improved his conditioning this offseason with the work of strength and conditioning coach Mike MacDonald, look out, because that was the only thing preventing him from being one of the Beavers' best overall defenders last season.
BeaversEdge Top 25 for 2020 Archive
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