Darien Whitaker

Saw time in the final two games of the season, playing exclusively on kickoff coverage and recording tackles against both Utah and Colorado. Played at Boys Town under head coach Chris Nizzi... Regarded as the 60th-best linebacker in the nation for the Class of 2025 by On3, while the organization viewed him as the seventh-best overall player in the state of Nebraska... Rated the sixth-best overall prospect in the state of Nebraska by 247Sports... Picked up all-state and all-district honors as a senior, while he was a finalist for the district player of the year award... Named a finalist for Nebraska's "Mr. Football" award by the Jet Award Foundation... Had a great senior season in which he carded 82 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss and two interceptions... Totaled 107 tackles in his three-year career... Also tallied 1,589 career rushing yards with 25 touchdowns in addition to 361 kickoff return yards... Competed in basketball and the high jump. Darien Whitaker Jr. was born February 6, 2007, in Baltimore, Maryland... Son of Jayme Delly... Has four siblings, Nashiya, Coby, Ashton and Mai'zi... Cousin, Brian Simms III, is a linebacker at Cincinnati... Majoring in psychology.