Michigan picked up a big old grad transfer commitment today to boost their depth on the interior defensive line, as Oregon State nose guard Jordan Whittley announced he’ll be finishing his long college career in Ann Arbor. He was last listed at 6-1/358 on the Beavers’ roster, which is many. He’s also 25 years old, has already been through three universities, a major position change, an ACL tear, and survived a heart tumor.

Bottom boy surviving, hard time living, ima make sure you don’t forget it…. 100% committed #GOBLUE pic.twitter.com/hGFm82UOh1

— Jordan Whittley (@Thatjacka__) May 21, 2021

It’s big for the program too. Michigan’s thoroughly Don Brown-ified roster was hardly sized for the huge fronts new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald ran in Baltimore, where 6-1/336 Brandon Williams played alongside 6-0/340 Michael Pierce, 6-4/340 Haloti Ngata, and the like. Whittley will most likely share snaps with Mazi Smith at nose guard, in a late-career Bryan Mone role.

That fits, because Whittley is the same age, and from the same high school class, as Mone, IE Whittley was once a 6-2/225 running back commit to San Jose State in 2014. He didn’t qualify academically, instead ending up at Laney College in Oakland in 2015. Whittley told Sam Webb (shared on the latest Michigan Recruiting Insider podcast) that he had an ACL injury early in his Laney career, and juco medical care being what it is, he was sidelined a long time and put on 100 pounds. When Whittley came back he moved to defensive line, finally playing in 2017 and 2018 for Laney, the latter as an All-American. That earned him a transfer to Oregon State, where Whittley made it into the regular rotation at nose tackle and was awarded a clock extension for his lost 2015 and 2016 at Laney. Last summer he discovered a tumor in his heart and spent the year on the sidelines getting through that. The NCAA also awarded everyone a free year of eligibility so Whittley gets one more go.

These are his 2019 JUCO rankings, meaning the positional rankings are among junior college transfers:

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
3*, 5.5, NR JUCO, NR DT, NR CA	3*, 79, #29 JUCO, #3 DT, #11 West, #7 CA	3*, 83, #165 JUCO #16 DT, #36 CA	3*, 0.8482, #93 JUCO, #13 DT, #22 CA
3.40	3.78	3.32	3.48

FWIW Whittley was a 3*, 70, #287 ATH, #266 CA two-star to 24/7 in 2014, which is long enough ago that this was probably a Scout.com rating when it was made.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

We’ll start with what he told Sam Webb on the Michigan Insider (11:13) because it’s delightful:

I’m very aggressive, very passionate in how I play. I’m going to impose my will on you and there’s really nothing you can do about it. You know I played running back my whole life, and I like to say I’m still a running back because I’m always in the backfield.

Former OrSU back Marcus Greaves took a look at the Laney tape($) after the transfer to Oregon State was announced:

Jordan is one aggressive player, that's the first thing that jumps off the film. … He has a nastiness to the way he plays.

… Besides his attitude what stands out to me is his brute force … he would beat his man every single time, it was difficult to find a lineman who could stop him or even slow him down. Also, let's talk about his hands. Watch the film and as the saying goes, "the eye in the sky don't lie." Whittley gets lineman's hands off him with ease. ..

A weakness I can see is that Whittley sometimes goes to much for the big hit. In his film we don't see any missed tackles. I'd say he is a sure tackler, but as we know being too aggressive looking for the 'big hit' can also lead to 'big misses' too.

People who cover the Beavers were impressed by Whitley’s first spring camp, and named him their 8th most important player going into the season:

The 300 pounder played tough in the trenches this spring and brought a new 'take no prisoners' mentality to the unit. Whittley is also incredibly agile for his size, showing off excellent footwork, something he may have learned while playing running back earlier in his career.

…and moved up to #3 according to the same 24/7 reporters before the tumor:

A big part of Whittley's success is his footwork and ability to handle a double team. He's nimble for his size and is able to hold a large portion of real estate with his size and strength.

The speed and strength he possesses at 6-1, 333 is almost unthinkable.

The Oregonian’s Nick Daschel reported Whittley didn’t practice in 2020, and was reported among those out with Covid-19 issues, but was seen training with the S&C staff.

OFFERS

Michigan jumped on Whittley within a half hour of him entering the portal and came in guns blazing, so other offers didn’t really have time to materialize. UAB, who lost another nose tackle Michigan was after before Whittley became available, was the only other school who jumped in before Michigan was a fait accompli. It’s hard to know how much interest there would have been if the recruitment went longer.

Coming out of Laney, UNC, Oregon, Houston, San Diego State, and Utah State were some of his leaders.

PREVIOUS SCHOOLS

Laney College, where John Beam is head coach and athletic director, is the site of Last Chance U’s Season 5, but that was filmed in 2019 when Whittley was already at Oregon State. Whittley’s last Laney team won the California CCAA championship, finishing 11-2.

STATS

Whittley played in all 12 games for Oregon State in 2019 behind four-year starter Elu Aydon, who wasn’t drafted, but was limited by a sprained ankle against Stanford. His stats for the season were 14 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, plus a QB hurry and a PBU. He had three tackles each against Cal and Washington. His roster page lists a start but I couldn’t find which game that was in the box scores.

As a sophomore at Laney he totaled 35 tackles, 14.5 TFLs, and 5.5 sacks plus a pair of PBUs.

FAKE 40 TIME

lol.

VIDEO

I couldn’t find any full games of Oregon State from 2019 except Hawaii, which isn’t very helpful since the Warriors don’t like to leave the ball in the backfield long enough for the interior blocking to matter. The third play after the timestamp I put on that link shows Whittley breaking through on a three-man rush and get hung up on a center in a way that seems like it deserved a flag, and I thought he was mostly responsible for this interception:

For the most part Whittley looked the part of an implacable body who routinely shoved his (Mtn West) guy into the backfield. For what it’s worth if I was watching Oregon State film for the four-year starter I think I would have said I preferred Whittley.

Will you take a twitter highlight video?

Through the Tribulations and Trials @BeaverFootball pic.twitter.com/9iFFuxh2mA

— Jordan Whittley (@Thatjacka__) August 31, 2020

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Clearly this is a large, mature gentleman who’s ticketed for the nose guard position in Michigan’s new defense. He’s a considerably riskier pickup that you might think for a 25-year-old Pac 12 starter, and one with higher upside as well. This is a guy who’s had one fully healthy season, that being his big JuCo year, since coming out of high school in 2014. He’s also a guy with a running back’s feet who when healthy generates all the ooh’s and ah’s of the 340-pound freaks employed by Jim Harbaugh’s elder brother.

Michigan really just needs him to be a steady, doubles-eating presence in the middle of the line that plays three DTs. Chris Hinton and Donovan Jeter are expected to play the two flanking “tackle” positions, while Michigan went through spring practice with only a recently converted OL (Jack Stewart), and a walk-on who didn’t play last year (Elijah Pierre) behind projected starter at nose guard Mazi Smith. Since that’s a position you have to rotate, a healthy Whittley is a virtual lock to play.

Who starts and how they split snaps is almost irrelevant. Ideally Smith explodes this year since he’s much younger and has eligibility through 2024, and Whittley contributes to that explosion by handling 35-40% of nose guard snaps that PFF loves and NFL scouts notice. After a year without practice and no spring, even our hypothetically healthy Whittley will come in at a disadvantage, probably needing a few games to get reacclimated to football. At least Washington will be a familiar opponent.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan got their DT transfer, but could still use some immediate help at cornerback and linebacker.