Alvis Whitted named new Green Bay Packers wide receivers coach
Head coach Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers have announced that Alvis Whitted is set to become the newest wide receivers coach for the organization.
Whitted has a great deal of history surrounding the game of football, both on a coaching and playing level. In 1998, he was drafted by Tom Coughlin’s Jacksonville Jaguars; he was the 192nd pick in the seventh round of the 1998 draft.
Afterwards, he went on to play for two other franchises during his time in the NFL: the Atlanta Falcons and the Oakland Raiders. Throughout his journey of the NFL, Whitted tallied 74 receptions for 1,030 yards and six touchdowns as a receiver. In 2007, the Raiders released him, ending his NFL playing career.
In 2008, Whitted began his coaching career as an assistant with Orange High School, his alma-mater, in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Though his time there was short, it would be the launching pad to something greater.
In 2010, he moved onto the next tier in his coaching path, serving as the wide receivers coach for Millsaps College, a Division III school in Jackson, Mississippi. After Millsaps College, Whitted found himself spending time in 2011 with both the UCLA Bruins and Appalachian State Mountaineers. In February of 2012, he joined the Colorado State Rams, where he seemed to find a place to call ‘home’ and truly establish himself as a premier wide receivers coach.
During his time with Colorado State, Whitted helped mold and develop a handful of wide receivers. In 2014, he contributed to the true emergence of Rashard Higgins; Higgins led the nation with 1,750 receiving yards, 17 receiving touchdowns and a school-record 96 receptions.
Higgins was named a Biletnikoff Award finalist and received both first-team All-Mountain West and All-American honors for his 2014 season. Higgins went onto be drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 172nd pick of the fifth round in the 2016 draft.
In the 2016 season, Whitted would find his next gem with Michael Gallup, a junior who quickly bursted onto the scene. Gallup did not see the field his freshman and sophomore year, but made his presence known in his junior year posting 1,272 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on 76 receptions.
Gallup returned for his senior season and picked up where he left off. In his second year with Coach Whitted, Gallup put up 1,418 receiving yards, seven receiving touchdowns and 100 receptions.
These numbers earned Gallup first-team All-American honors, including a spot as a Biletnikoff Award finalist, Whitted’s second finalist in four seasons. Gallup went on to be drafted by the Dallas Cowboys with the 81st overall pick, in the third round of the 2018 draft.
Whitted brings a great deal of experience and a proven record of development and success with his past wide receivers. It makes sense as to why LaFleur elected to bring him on.
The Packers have a young wide receivers corps; it will be interesting to watch how Whitted is able to develop these younger guys, such as Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Equanimeous St. Brown and J’Mon Moore.
The development of the aforementioned should help ease the pain of possibly losing Randall Cobb and/or Geronimo Allison in free agency this year.
Davante Adams has proven to be worth every penny from his extension and still does not appear to be satisfied. Adams is one of the best, but most underrated receivers in the NFL, and his hunger to learn under Whitted will presumably be at an all-time high given his underdog mentality.
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The pieces to LaFleur’s coaching puzzle seem to be coming together fairly well, only time will tell if all the pieces properly fit together. Both LaFleur and Whitted have similar coaching histories in terms of earning everything and making the most of the opportunities that were given. Now they both turn the page to the next chapter in their books, but this story is just getting started.