MEET ALVIS WHITTED
The force behind Rams’ WRs
FORT COLLINS» What’s the difference between raising a 14-monthold daughter and teaching football to young men from 18 to 22? Ask Colorado State wide receivers coach Alvis Whitted. His answer might surprise you.
During any given Rams practice, the man responsible for a green-and-gold receiver renaissance is often shadowed near the sideline by his wife, Tracy, and their newborn, Remy. The sound of music blaring from loudspeakers is regularly interrupted by the screams of CSU assistants coaching up their respective position groups. Many of those orders are too profane to print, and “for some people, that may work,” Whitted admits.
But Whitted’s voice differs from the rest.
“Most coaches just yell to yell, to get in your face,” senior CSU receiver Michael Gallup said. “Whitted doesn’t even cuss.”
That’s strange. Because ever since Whitted, 43, joined the staff in February 2012, Rams’ receivers have been downright nasty to opposing defenses.
Whitted helped develop Rashard Higgins from an unheralded two-star recruit into an AllAmerican and 2016 fifth-round NFL draft pick. Now Michael Gallup is on pace to surpass Higgins’ numbers. This fall, Gallup is the first player nationally to eclipse 1,000 yards receiving. He also ranks second in yards per game (125.8) and third in average receptions (8.1).
“Coach Whitted doesn’t get enough credit for the development of this receiver position,” said CSU head coach Mike Bobo.
Whitted’s path to CSU began in Durham, N.C., where he converted high school state championship track speed into a football scholarship after walking on at North Carolina State. He played nine NFL seasons at receiver between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders and credits a long list of teammates and mentors who helped shape his coaching philosophy: Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Keenan McCardell, Tom Coughlin, Fred Biletnikoff and Jim McElwain — the Raiders’ quarterbacks coach during Whitted’s Oakland playing days who also gave him his first opportunity as a full-time FBS assistant coach at CSU.
“The NFL is a high-performance business. It’s a lot of great demand, but at the end of the day, we’re human beings playing an imperfect sport,” Whitted said. “The one thing that I always responded to was not being yelled at, but being taught. Why are we doing this? Why are we taking this step?”
An even better understanding of Whitted’s coaching philosophy requires a deeper look. His childhood was rife with struggle. Raised by a single mother, Whitted said his dad, now in his late 60s, is incarcerated.
“I didn’t have a father,” he said. “I wanted to be better than that.”
Nowhere has that influence been more apparent than with Higgins. CSU’s former star receiver lost his father in January 2013 to kidney failure, and to this day, Higgins said Whitted still sends his mother, Jeannette Jackson, a happy Mothers’ Day text each May.
“The type of energy he brings, it’s beautiful, man,” Higgins said. “I’ll love him forever for that.”
Said Gallup: “He’s what everybody wants in a coach.”
Back on the sidelines of CSU’s football practice fields, Whitted preaches “suddenness” in route running and “creativity within the scheme.” Paired with the exceptional play of quarterback Nick Stevens and an offensive line that has allowed just one sack in Mountain West play, it has produced the league’s top passing attack (310.8 yards) through eight games.
But Whitted views those football skills no more important than what it means to be a good teammate, husband and father. It’s why he rarely yells. Why he doesn’t curse. And it’s why raising his daughter is little different than leading the Rams to victory.
“I just want to teach her the ways of the world from my eyes and try to make her be the best person that she possibly can be,” Whitted said, “and that’s what I want for my players.”