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S Donte Whitner (Official Thread)

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Donte Whitner is the daddy of the secondary

Whitner.jpg


The 49ers? run defense has been so good, the team?s improved pass defense often goes unnoticed. The 49ers have yet to allow a rushing touchdown this year but they?ve also been stingy with the opposition?s pass, which accounts for why the team is allowing only 13.4 points a game ? lowest in the league.
Players such as cornerback Carlos Rogers (five interceptions) and safety Dashon Goldson (two forced fumbles) are in the midst of career years and the entire secondary owes much of that to their maestro, strong safety Donte Whitner.

A born leader, Whitner makes most of the secondary adjustments and as a free-agent arrival from Buffalo, Whitner is learning the proclivities of his talented cohorts.

?If Dashon wants to do something, he?s just going to go get it,? Whitner said. He said Goldson seeks the big hit, which can cause him to be out of position. And Rogers?

?He wants the ball,? Whitner confirmed.

There again Whitner is sometimes called upon to make up for Rogers as he ventures off for the interception. And what does Whitner like to do?
?Get guys lined up,? he said.

He?s good at it. The 49ers lead the league with 84 pass breakups and Whitner talked with pride about the lack of coverage breaks in the last several games.

?We take pride in that,? he said.

But Whitner has also amassed some statistics of his own, among them 72 tackles and two picks. But Whitner seems far more enamored with team success and there the 49ers are fortunate to have a secondary leader who knows the talents of his teammates.
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http://blog.sfgate.com/49ers/2011/12/08/donte-whitner-leads-under-rated-pass-defense/
 
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1-on-1 with 49ers safety Donte Whitner
December 14, 2011


Donte Whitner tells it like it is. You ask a question, he?ll answer it honestly and directly. His answers are never off the cuff or flippant. They contain meaning.

Whitner can speak this way because he is a master of evaluation. You pick that up right away upon talking to him. He seeks information, observes it, processes it and makes it part of his experience. It?s why the safety is the quarterback of the 49ers defense. That, and his first round worthy athletic skills.

I spoke to Whitner in the locker room right after the loss to the Cardinals and the day after for a profile for this week?s 49ers Central. He had the same thoughtful demeanor both times. He didn?t shy away from talking about what happened in Arizona, because in his evaluation, everyone saw it.

Whitner played his first five years for Buffalo before signing a three-year deal with the 49ers. In our conversation, he shared how he came to play in the Bay Area.

Mindi Bach: You had committed to Cincinnati. Even tweeted about it. Then you decided to come to the 49ers. What was it that made you change your mind?

Donte Whitner: Being able to play on a defense with Patrick Willis and Justin Smith, a lot of the young guys that we have here. Mostly everybody is entering their prime or really young guys except for Justin. He?s already got 10 years plus. So that was one of the things that drew me here. I understood that they had good players and you always want to go and play with good players

MB: Did you talk to any of them before?

DW: I didn?t talk to any of them before. The only person I talked to was Ted [Ginn]. You know me and Ted went to high school together, college. We?re friends, so that was the only person. I asked him how was the environment out here? How?s the weather? How?s living out here? How do you like it? And everything was all thumbs up. It made it a lot easier for me.

MB: You get to the Bay Area. You have a new coordinator, and it?s really your first change. What struck you first about the players and Vic Fangio and what they were trying to do in a short amount of time?

DW: Well, first off you have to make an impression on the coaching staff and on the players as an individual. You have to come in, you have to work. You have to work hard, and you have to lead by example. You can?t come in and just start talking and running your mouth. You have to come in and work and show that you?re willing to do things that other people aren?t willing to do to get to where we want to go. After that, then you start to find out how people accept you and how they work and what they expect of you. It?s been pretty cool. It?s been pretty cool. It?s not actually, it?s my second time, well, actually my third head coach because we had Dick Jauron and they fired him up in Buffalo. And then we had Chan Gailey. So I went through a change before and I understood what I had to do to make an impression on that coaching staff and on the players. And since I?ve been here it?s been pretty good. Vic has a totally different scheme from what I?m used to playing. He allows his players to go out there and make calls and do things based on what they see and not just play like robots so it?s been fun.

cont...
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http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/nine...fety-Donte-Whitner?blockID=611908&feedID=2539
 
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Recovered said fumble forced by Larry Grant to win the game however, he did NOT partake in being fed Skittles by a SF fan.
 
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More Whitner
Posted on January 6, 2012 by Grant Cohn

SANTA CLARA ? Rejoice! Here?s ten minutes more of Donte Whitner?s Thursday group interview that you didn?t even know existed.

Q: Do you have a sense Harbaugh always has your back?

WHITNER: ?Yeah, and those are the head coaches that you like. Like Rex Ryan, he will never throw his players under the bus and he puts all the pressure on himself. Coach Harbaugh does the same thing. A lot of coaches when they don?t want the pressure on them, don?t want the hands pointed at them or the media to turn on them, they put things out to the media that really shouldn?t be out there. ?Oh, this guy should have made this play or he should have done this.? That stuff never works and players really understand that and locker rooms understand that. If you do something negative coach is really going to put you out there in the media. I went through that in Buffalo with Chan Gailey. He would do that all the time. We didn?t understand why he would do that, it wasn?t making us better. It wasn?t helping us on the football field or helping us reach our goal. It really doesn?t help. The only thing it does is turn the finger pointing off of you and put it on the players. Guys don?t like to play for coaches like that.?

Q: How does he air you out when needed?

WHITNER: ?He?ll come to you personally and tell you, or your position coach will tell you. He doesn?t go and point fingers in the media and he doesn?t point fingers in front of the team. He says it one-on-one and he gets the point across.?

Q: Whitner on brother Dawawn, former Ohio St player who had to stop football because of Diabetes I diagnosis about 2 1/2 years ago

WHITNER: ?He really didn?t know. He was home and eating anything and everything. A defensive tackle, he almost fainted or something and he found out he had Type I diabetes. He lost about 150 pounds. He?s doing a little better now and he?s trying to get back into school. He ain?t playing. Defensive tackles, those are big guys. I think he was over 300 pounds. I think he?s smaller than me now. That?s kind of weird. He?s doing good, his health is doing good. He played for Ohio State for a while but once he lost all that weight he had to end that.?

Q: Do you play for him?

WHITNER: ?I play for him. I play for a lot of my family ? my mom, my grandma they passed away who really raised me. I play for all of them and they enjoy coming to watch. They?ll be here. It will be my first playoff game and it will be their first playoff game watching me, so it will be special.?

cont...
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http://49ers.pressdemocrat.com/2012/01/inside-the-49ers/more-whitner/
 
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