Noxapater football coach Casey Orr said Ryan Whitfield isn’t your normal defensive end.
He’s not as tall as most coaches would want him to be but Orr said what Whitfield lacks in size, he makes up with in tenacity and work ethic, making him the fastest addition to The Winston County Journal’s Top 11 Players to Watch.
Orr said Whitfield is one of his favorite players that he has coached while at Noxapater, not because of his physical abilities but mainly because of his work ethic and the amount of effort he plays with.
“Ryan is the leader of our football team,” Orr said. “He sets the example. His work ethic is unlike any kid I’ve ever had before. He’s going to bust his rump in the weight room. At practice, he’s 100 miles an hour. Every Friday night, you don’t have to worry about what you’re fixing to get from that kid. Day in and day out, he’s going to be max effort, max speed, and he’s going to get after it and compete.”
Whitfield, who stands at 5-foot-1 and weighs just 235 pounds, will be a four-year starter on the offensive line for the Tigers this season.
“I think as far as our offensive lineman award, I think he’s won it every year that he’s played high school football,” Orr said. “He is just that type of kid that you want to coach. He’s really coachable. He wants to get better. He’s going to come early and stay late. He wants to improve his game. He is a technician.”
Orr said one of the things that sets Whitfield apart is how he refines his game by getting better.
“He is going to be able to watch film, know what he is expecting from his opponent, what they like to do, how he’s going to counteract it as a pass rusher he’s always going to have a plan,” Orr said. “He’s going to work moves. And, as far as a run stopper, what we ask defensively out of a d-end is we’re a squeeze and he’s the guy that’s going to squeeze it down. He’s going to wrong shoulder, spill it, and be exactly where he’s supposed to be doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing.”
On defense, Orr said one of the things he likes on defense is that Whitfield never gets trapped.
“I may be wrong, but I could go back and pull out his game film from the last three years and I bet you you wouldn’t be able to find four or five times where he’s actually gotten kicked,” Orr said. “The biggest issue with him at times, is sometimes times he will squeeze himself down to an A-gap.
“He doesn’t meet your normal parameters of what you look at as far as defensive end and he even plays some inside for us, but his tenacity and his work ethic and just his being a technician is what allows him to be very successful at what he does.”
Orr said Whitfield can play college somewhere on the defensive side of the football.
“Colleges are looking at him on the defensive side of the ball,” Orr said. “The most interest he’s getting is being a 3-4 walk-down guy, playing some outside and being that walk down guy. I think he’s the perfect fit for it, minus the length issue. He’s not that lengthy guy that everybody’s looking for to do that, but outside of that, he fits that well.”
Orr said Whitfield has gotten considerable interest from Coahoma, Holmes and Southwest. He also has an offer from Southwest Assemblies of God University, who is coached by former Noxapater standout Ryan Smith.
“SAGU offered Ryan and Kyler (Carter),” Orr said. “Coahoma, Holmes and Southwest have shown a lot of interest. Those three have shown a lot of interest. He fits the schemes Holmes and Southwest run. Holmes and Southwest run that triple option on offense and they actually like him on the offensive side. East Central is the one that has shown a lot of interest in him defensively. I thought they were going to offer him and a little disappointed they haven’t offered him yet.”
During summer 7-on-7 competition, Whitfield played some outside linebacker to get him some reps there. Orr said Whitfield ran a 4.8 in the 40-yard dash.
“He played outside linebacker for us some just because that’s what people are looking at him doing so we want him to get some reps there,” Orr said “Come the season for us, his hands are going to be on the ground so this is the best time for him to get some reps at it because barring somebody magically appearing between now and season, he’s going to be our defensive end.”
Orr said White has also shown a lot of resiliency. This past year, his family lost their house in a fire.
“He is a really high-character kid,” Orr said. “He’s been through a lot with just some different things. His family lost their house back around Christmas and then he’s the first cousin of the kid that got shot here. His maturity and ability to handle some of the stuff he’s dealt with is really impressive to me because I’ve known grown men that wouldn’t come close to being able to handle some of the stuff that he’s dealt with and handled and he continues to lead in the right way.”
Whitfield said he wants to be a coach when he graduates from college.
“Ryan is the kid that has already come to me and said, ‘Coach when I graduate from college, can I have your job?” Orr said. “ ‘Are you going to hire me as a coach?’ That’s what he wants to do, he wants to coach. He’s a student of the game. He understands it and he’s a lot quicker in the huddle to try to get people right just because, to me, he understands a whole lot more about what we’re trying to do and what’s expected of everybody. I mean he really helps us on both sides of the ball.”
