49ers' Donte Whitner explains his split personality

SANTA CLARA - Before Donte Whitner KO'd New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas last Saturday, football fans knew the 49ers strong safety was a good player.

Now they realize he's one of the most vicious players in the National Football League. In the NFL, vicious is good.

But in the locker room, he's still the same laid-back, mild-mannered guy he's been all season.

Some writers who cover the team daily refer to him as Grandpa Whitner. He's only 26 but he seems more like 66. He's so mature you get the feeling he has children who could teach manners.

How could this be the same man who ended Pierre Thomas' season? You saw that hit - it was as hard as football collisions get, plus it was helmet-to-helmet. As Thomas lay motionless on the ground, Whitner showed no remorse. He walked to his sideline, raised his arms and flexed his biceps.

Clearly Grandpa Whitner does not play for the 49ers. An alter ego does.

Whitner sat down with The Press Democrat on Wednesday to explain his split personality.

PD: Could you describe on-the-field Donte and off-the-field Donte?

WHITNER: When I'm off-the-field Donte, I have to be a father. I have to be a son. I have to be a lot gentler than what I have to transform into on the football field. On the football field, I have to be angry. I have to play angry. I have to play aggressive.

I have to be two different people. If I take the guy that I am at home onto the football field I'll get dominated each and every snap. And vice versa - if I take the guy that I am on the football field home, then I won't have a family that likes me. You have to transform into a soft, caring person once you go home. You can't take the football player into the household or you won't have a household. You have to have an equal balance.

PD: When do you switch from one to the other?

WHITNER: The night before a game. You can't really do it any sooner than that or any later than that. But different guys do it differently. I know Brian Dawkins had a different locker (on game day), and an alter ego he called "The Wolverine."

I don't really do all of that. For me, it's a mindset. It's the music I'm listening to. It's me understanding what I have to do to help this football team.

PD: What do you listen to that helps you transform?

WHITNER: Right now I listen to Rick Ross, Jay Z and 2 Chainz.

PD: Which guy do you like better, on-the-field you or off-the-field you?

WHITNER: I like both. I can't say I like one without the other because I feel like I am those two people.

PD: When you were 4 years old you got hit by a car and you spent a long time in a body cast. How did you pass the time?

WHITNER: I passed that time in a red wagon. It was the summertime. I was a little kid. I had family pulling me around. I had a full body cast on. I was hit and I was never supposed to really walk or play sports.

It's a blessing, just like how so many people didn't give us a chance to be here and be one game away from the Super Bowl. I say the same thing about doctors. Doctors told me I wouldn't walk. They didn't give me a chance to play football, and it's just beating the odds, believing that it will happen and really not listening to what other people say.

I would say that event contributed to creating on-the-field me, because now I go out there and I play balls-to-the-wall. I really don't care about what people say about what I can do or can't do. And us as a football team, we don't worry about what people say we can or can't do. We just go out there with one focus, one mindset and we get it done. That's how it's been all year long. That's how it's been all my life.

Grant Cohn is the author of

The Press Democrat's

Inside the 49ers blog. Read it at 49ers.pressdemocrat.com.