THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Like all of the current Rams' rookies, wide receiver Jordan Whittington is consuming a ton of information in a condensed period of time.
Fortunately for him, the way he and his college teammates learned their offense at Texas is making it a little bit easier to process that information, and ultimately transition into the NFL as he learns Los Angeles' playbook.
"One thing that I can say I took from Texas, and I know that other receivers in my room (there) did, we learned concept-based, and I think that directly translates to this offense," Whittington told theRams.com. "So just learning it as a concept, the words change, but most of the concepts are somewhat similar. So I think we did a good job at Texas by learning concept-based."
Whittington compared that acclimation to the first day of freshman year, in terms of "being back to square one" with learning the playbook.
Beyond that concept-based learning carryover, Whittington has also benefitted from joining a wide receiver room led by eight-year veteran Cooper Kupp, who willingly helps ensure each player is set up for success.
"That's exciting for me," Whittington said of that 'square one' feeling. "Just being able to learn the process again and go through everything these guys are going through. It's a lot of information in a short amount of time, so just trying to figure out how to be a professional, and I have like one of the best ones in my room. He's a really good guy, and he's not selfish with how he learns things. So him just teaching me how to learn and me just watching, I've been able to like learn different ways to learn throughout this process."
Whittington's special teams experience and ability to play all three receiver positions were the two biggest reasons both general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay identified as what made the former Texas standout an appealing prospect.
His role is still to be determined, which is understandable having been with the team for less than a month. His main focus during this time anyway is on continuing to learn and improve daily.
"This is a new process," Whittington said. "Like I said, there's gonna be growing pains, there's always adjustments and being able to adjust when you're just starting something. So I'm going through that phase right now of learning, being able to learn, and then at some point, I'll get that down, move on to the next thing. You just keep on just keep on stacking these days. So that's what I've been focused on."
