Imhotep Charter DE Jahsear Whittington ‘a student of the game,’ prepares for Spalding rematch

Imhotep Charter senior defensive end Jahsear Whittington is playing chess while everybody else plays checkers.

Perhaps that’s what makes the four-star recruit so good at football. He did, after all, commit to Pittsburgh last year.

Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that Whittington is 6-foot-2, 280 pounds and has fleet feet, elite strength, and an appetite for quarterbacks.

But at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Germantown Supersite, Whittington says it’s the space between his ears that could make the difference against Maryland’s Archbishop Spalding High School and its standout junior quarterback Malik Washington.

“I definitely take pride in being a student of the game,” Whittington said at practice this week. “We’re always just trying to disrupt. And with [Washington], that’s what you have to do. You have to throw his timing off because he’s a great player.”

This week, that has meant watching hours of film, looking for anything that could yield an edge on the field.

Recently, Whittington says he noticed that the backside of a particular opponent tipped whether the team would run or pass.

Perhaps he could also glean knowledge from the position of a helmet or the tilt of a lineman’s shoulders pads.

“I definitely also look at feet and knees,” he said. “What’s the first thing they do when they get out of their stance? What should I expect when I get off the ball? Just the little things like that.”

This week, Whittington has diligently studied Washington’s head, shoulders, knees, and toes … knees and toes.

The 6-4, 205-pound quarterback has offers from Maryland, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Illinois, and Texas A&M, among others. Last season, he led the Cavaliers to a 20-13 victory against the visiting Panthers.

Whittington said Washington typically passes the ball within 2 seconds, leaving little time for pass rushers to attack.

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“This won’t be a get-up-the-field game,” Whittington said, “It’s not really a sack game. It’s more so about getting your hands up.”

Last week, Whittington caught a batted ball and returned it for a touchdown in Imhotep’s 35-0 dismantling of Haverford School. He says he’s been daydreaming all week about repeating the feat. Junior defensive end Zahir Mathis, also a four-star recruit, might help.

“Me and my group,” Whittington said, “we’re definitely going to make sure we don’t make things easy for [Washington].”

Imhotep coach Devon Johnson, now in his fourth year, credited defensive coaches Bruce Carson, Clifford Puckett, and defensive coordinator Patrick Fisher for teaching Whittington and Imhotep’s defense the nuances of the game.

“[Whittington] is an exceptional kid who really knows the game,” Johnson said. “One of the biggest things for us is we don’t only want our kids to just be good athletes. We want them to know the game of football.”

Offensively, Johnson said quarterback Mikal Davis, who committed to Army, is a trusted veteran presence. Penn State-bound Tyseer Denmark figures to be a top target at wide receiver, while Georgia-bound running back Jabree Wallace-Coleman is a big-play threat.

Last season, the Panthers’ offense started slowly against Spalding, leading to a 7-0 deficit at intermission.

After falling behind, 13-0, in the second half, Davis engineered drives that eventually tied the game before Washington threw an 83-yard touchdown pass in the final minute, sealing Imhotep’s fate.

Whittington hopes to use what he has learned in film study to ensure that doesn’t happen again.

He became an interior lineman during his sophomore season after playing mostly linebacker and fullback in youth football.

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This season, Whittington moved outside opposite Mathis, who has yet to commit while fielding 30 scholarship offers from schools such as Alabama, Colorado, Florida, and Penn State.

Whittington said the most difficult transition was learning about spacing as an outside rusher. He added that watching film, sometimes until he falls asleep at night, has certainly helped.

Now, he enjoys the chess match, setting up lineman and luring them exactly where he wants them.

“That’s my main job: to have a lineman thinking,” he said. “I feel like that’s when I’ve won the game entirely.”