Texas WR Jordan Whittington's NFL dream realized

Texas football set a record this year with the most players selected in the first six rounds of the NFL Draft in program history. After the Los Angeles Rams selected senior Texas wide receiver Jordan Whittington in the sixth round (213th overall), the Longhorns had 11 players who heard their name called in the first six rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Texas football WR Jordan Whittington drafted by the LA Rams in the sixth round

All 11 Longhorns players who received invites to the 2024 NFL Combine have been drafted.

Whittington is the third Texas wide receiver selected in the 2024 draft. Junior Texas wideout Xavier Worthy was the first to hear his name called, joining superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs as the 28th overall pick in the first round.

The other Texas wide receiver selected in the 2024 draft is junior Adonai Mitchell, picked by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round (52nd overall).

This is the first time since 2020 that the Longhorns had multiple wideouts selected in the NFL Draft. It is also the first time in program history that the Longhorns had three wide receivers picked in the same draft.

Whittington's story is one of resilience and toughness. He arrived at Texas 2019 as a former five-star recruit who played both sides of the ball for Cuero High School in Cuero, TX. Whittington was actually moved from wide receiver to running back to fill depth needs in his first year with the Longhorns in 2019.

But injuries unfortunately limited Whittington's time seeing the field early in his collegiate career.

He moved back to wide receiver in 2020 and 2021, where he started to make a bigger impact while missing fewer and fewer games due to injury each season. Whittington played double-digit games in a single season for the first time in 2022, where he registered a career-high 50 catches for 652 receiving yards and one touchdown catch.

Whittington had the best seasons of his collegiate career in his final two years at Texas. He registered over 1,000 combined receiving yards on nearly 100 catches, along with a couple of touchdowns in 2022 and 2023.

The 6-foot-1 and 205-pound Whittington played out of the slot at receiver for most of his career at Texas. He made a name for himself as a physical and consistent run blocker at receiver. Whittington led all starting Texas receivers in run blocking grade in both of the last two seasons.

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