Imhotep’s Jahsear Whittington committed to a position change and then to Pitt. Next goal? A state title.

Entering his sophomore year at Imhotep Charter, Jahsear Whittington sat down with Panthers associate head coach Cyril Woodland. Whittington had known Woodland for most of his life, with Woodland having played high school football with Whittington’s father, Dion.

At the time, Whittington was preparing to play his first season with Imhotep’s varsity football team. The pandemic had prevented Whittington from playing for the Panthers as a freshman, with Whittington instead playing another season of 14-and-under football with the North Philly Blackhawks. Growing up, Whittington had played running back and linebacker. But he was growing, and Woodland knew playing defensive line was Whittington’s football future.

Whittington wasn’t sure of the move at first, given his love for running back and linebacker.

“It was actually kind of tough,” Whittington said. “I had a lot of love playing running back from the time I was a little guy playing football. I was also playing linebacker, and I was falling in love with that position.”

Dion Whittington thought the position switch was a great idea, and he trusted Woodland’s input, given the latter’s experience as a coach in the Philadelphia area. He remembers breaking down the opportunity with Jahsear.

“I’m grateful for Coach Cy because I think it was the greatest move ever,” Dion said. “Jahsear, at first he wasn’t sure about it, but we had a real father-son conversation, and I said, ‘It was always about you being a football player, it wasn’t about you being a football player at a certain position.’”

When it came time to decide, Jahsear leaned on his relationship with Woodland and the trust they had built.

“That [trust] definitely helped in my decision,” Whittington said. “In that conversation, he said, ‘Have I ever lied to you?’ and he hasn’t.

“On top of [that], I trust my coaches in any decision because I know a lot of my coaches, especially Cy, see my future.”

Once he committed to the position switch, Whittington started training to prepare for his first season on the defensive line. Whittington’s first priority was mastering the fundamentals. The 6-foot-2 lineman worked on everything from pass-rushing moves to positioning his body on the line. He also relied on the athleticism he had developed as a skill-position player. When he first was learning the position, his speed and agility helped him make plays even when his technique broke down.

Whittington also was able to work alongside a talented crop of Imhotep seniors, including a pair of Division I-bound defensive ends. Those linemen, Enai White and Keon Wylie, now play for Texas A&M and Penn State, respectively.

“They helped me out a lot, and the relationship with them is priceless,” Whittington said. “I could call them or text them at any time and ask them for different studies or different techniques. So, I was glad to have them on my D-line. I think that definitely pushed me to be a better player.”

» READ MORE: Talent abounds at Imhotep, which features numerous players to watch in the quest for a state title

Combined with the work he put in over the summer, playing alongside the likes of White and Wylie helped Whittington make a statement when Imhotep opened its season against Central Catholic in Pittsburgh. It didn’t take long for college coaches to take notice of Whittington’s talents at the defensive line spot. By the time Imhotep’s season finished in December, Whittington already had a handful of Division I offers.

Penn State and Temple were the first to offer scholarships to Whittington. ACC programs Pittsburgh, Boston College, and Georgia Tech, as well as Ole Miss from the SEC, also made Whittington offers during the fall of his sophomore year.

That early recruiting attention was a big moment for Whittington and served as a validation that switching to the defensive line had put him on the right track.

“It was actually an emotional moment,” Whittington said. “We had our first game in August, and I had switched to defensive line two months prior. It showed me that two months of me just working hard nonstop got me to where I always dreamed of going.”

Said Woodland: “Since a young age, [playing college football] has always been his goal. So when he was finally able to play and put some film out there to get opportunity … he just took advantage of it.”

Offers continued to come in during the offseason, and Whittington’s recruiting status figured to continue to rise. The Imhotep junior is now a three-star recruit. But it didn’t take long for Whittington to find the right program. In April, less than a year after his position switch, Whittington committed to Pat Narduzzi’s Pittsburgh Panthers.

Narduzzi was the first college coach Whittington met. In eighth grade, when Whittington was at his first workout with Imhotep, Narduzzi and other Pittsburgh coaches happened to be visiting the school. It was then — nearly two years before Whittington’s commitment — that Narduzzi took note of Whittington’s talents.

“My dad and him talked, and they said they would be back in two years to get me, and that’s exactly what happened,” Whittington said.

Committing to Pitt early in his recruiting process has let Whittington focus on his high school football goals. This season, Whittington has been looked to as a leader for a Panthers program that graduated several seniors on the defensive side of the football. It’s a responsibility Whittington has embraced so far.

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” Woodland said. “He bought in at a young age, and his job is to make sure the younger guys buy in to the legacy we have built there.”

Whittington hopes that his leadership will help the Panthers win a state championship, something that the team came up just short of a season ago. Imhotep plays in a PIAA Class 5A quarterfinal against Whitehall at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Germantown Super Site.

“I just want to accomplish winning a state championship,” Whittington said. “I just feel like I want to have it under my belt going out of my high school career.”