[Buckskin86]

Whitner Finding His Way
by Chris Brown, Lead Journalist Last Updated: 10/27/2006 2:50 PM ET

Seven games into his rookie season Bills top pick Donte Whitner is making progress. Though a lot of the big plays have yet to come down the pike from the rookie, he has been productive. The starting strong safety is third on the team in tackles with 49, has one interception and a pair of pass breakups.

"I feel like things are going pretty good," Whitner said. "I'm learning. With a record of 2-5 not everything is going the way I want it to go. I want to win football games and this is the first time I've been on a losing team. I've never lost this many game in high school or at Ohio State. We just want to get it turned around. I'm learning every day from the vets and the coaches."

Whitner feels more comfortable on the field now than he did the first couple of weeks of the season, but he knows there's more work to be done within the scheme.

"I'm still learning some of the small details of the defense like everybody," he said. "This is a simple defense, but there are a lot of details to it. I feel like I'm getting lined up well, communicating with my teammates, hustling to the football and tackling. But there are still a lot of things to improve on."

Bills defensive backs coach George Catavolos has been working with Whitner on some of those details.

"He has to be more disciplined on his keys and watch his keys longer," said Catavolos. "He sometimes gets caught up in a lot of backfield movement and it slows his movement at times to a run fit. If he reads his keys they'll take him to the run fit."

While in most cases Whitner is in the right place as a play unfolds, Catavolos is working to improve his effectiveness in pass coverage as well.

"Same thing in his pass drops," Catavolos said. "When he's playing a zone defense he has to get to his landmarks and then read the route progression and make the proper adjustment, but we're pleased with his progress."

The coaching staff recognizes that there's a lot on Whitner's plate with the position he plays in Perry Fewell's defensive scheme, which is why they're tolerant to a degree with some of his inconsistent play.

"In his position sometimes he's a safety, sometimes he's a linebacker so he's got to learn a lot of positions," Catavolos said. "He's a young man who has been pressed into action this year and has a lot of things coming at him and he's handled them very well."

One thing Whitner's body was not prepared for was the length of the NFL season. Every first year player who is getting significant playing time often experiences a stretch of sluggishness where their body is a bit worn out. That's why Whitner was thankful that the Bills had a bye week right in the middle of the season.

"I'm starting to hit that rookie wall," Whitner said. "Right now the college season is starting to close and that's what my body is used to, so I'll try to get past that point and work hard every day."

Where Catavolos and the rest of the coaching staff has been placing emphasis is on the basics, especially during the three day bye week practices which wrapped up Thursday.

"Everybody can improve on fundamentals," said Catavolos. "Some games he tackles exceptionally well, other games he doesn't have his feet underneath him and he's shooting his arms instead of swinging them. But that's not just him, that's everybody on our football team."

The bottom line is Whitner is only getting better with each passing game, and though he admits he still feels like a rookie, he likely won't be playing like one come December.

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