William Whitlow Jr. was nervous.
When the 2024 season ended, Whitlow quickly realized he was the only defensive starter coming back for Memphis football in 2025.
He needed some answers.
First, the All-AAC defensive lineman drove to the Tigers’ facility for what amounted to an exit interview. He’d expected a 15-minute conversation with defensive coordinator Jordon Hankins, but he ended up staying for two hours and talking with several coaches and staff members. He decided to enter the transfer portal, but returning to Memphis was still an option.
He’d expected it to be a quick meeting because he was planning to drive back home from Memphis to Millibrook, Alabama, that night. By the time he got home, it was 11 p.m. Once his name officially appeared in the transfer portal, navigating it became his full-time job.
“Your phone starts going off,” he said. “Boom, boom, boom. Twitter follows, text messages, phone calls from every which way. It is crazy, I’ll tell you that.”
There were offers from Oklahoma, West Virginia, even Penn State. The Nittany Lions were still in the College Football Playoff, but they were actively recruiting Whitlow. That gave him plenty of confidence.
So too did the meeting he had with Hankins after that.
“It was really just refreshing,” he said. “I got nervous because I would’ve been the only starter from the first game returning on defense. I sat down with (Hankins), he broke it down — who was coming, where they’re coming from, how they play, how it’ll help benefit me.”
He took his name out of the portal and announced plans to return for his senior season. That immediately made him one of Memphis’ top players, a building block for Hankins’ defense heading into the 2025 season.
“Sometimes new is for somebody else,” Hankins said. “I don’t know. At the end of the day, he wants to be here. It wasn’t anything…
Source link : https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/college/memphis-tigers/2025/04/02/memphis-football-william-whitlow-jr-jordon-hankins-defense/82711054007/
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Publish date : 2025-04-02 10:04:00
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