Whitney Fordman is Lana Lang's first boyfriend and the star quarterback for Smallville HIgh School his senior season. He struggles more and more throughout the year, however, when he learns that Kansas State has dropped their football scholarship offer, and that his father is struggling through health problems that will result in his death. Without many other chances for a substantial future, Whitney joins the military in late May of the same year with the intent of having his schooling paid for. However, he is sent to fight in Afghanistan and dies after a short period of combat there.