USC rising star tailback Waymond Jordan never gave up on himself

When he started to get the word on Waymond Jordan, Mike Bennett thought that the film would speak of itself. The Escambia High coach was in the scene of the preparations in the south of Florida long enough to know what he saw of his new ball carrier.

“The just watching him run football for the first time, he was incredible,” said Bennett. He thought that scholarship offers would run early enough.

Jordan had similar expectations. Since he took football for the first time, at 4 years old, he had always said that he would play in a big school, on the biggest scene. He had come to Escambia as a year in this spirit.

But in 2021, four years before Lincoln Riley and the USC would see the same star potential, other university coaches, for any reason, did not make much mind.

The USC ball carrier, Waymond Jordan, carries the ball during a victory over Georgia Southern at the Colosseum on Saturday. Originally in his career, Jordan became a key element of the Trojans offensive.

(CARLIN STIEHL / LOS Angeles Times)

Given where Jordan is today – the first ball carrier on one of the best ground offenses in the country for two weeks of the university football season – many of them regret it now.

“Each coach in the country, I sent stuff,” said Bennett. “I mean, everyone. I sent it to everyone. ”

Some small schools have watched Jordans in Escambia the last year, keeping an attentive eye while he rushed for 1,225 yards and 12 affected. Some schools said he could walk. But none of them extended a scholarship offer. Jordan couldn’t understand why.

Hutchinson Community College, a junior college in Hutchinson, Kan., Was one of the only places to give it an opportunity. Hutchinson was a thousand kilometers from his hometown of Pensacola, and a world far from the main university football he thought of playing. But the staff there knew the start-up well, and they believed in what they saw in the Jordan band.

If everything was going well with the Junior College, he could still obtain the power four offers that he was looking for.

“He believed in himself. And he bet on himself,” said Greg Cross, coach of the Hutchinson runners. “And I would say he has bet well.”

Cross then thought it was a worthy value, before most of the others. He could see on the film that Jordan had a rare instinct to make defenders miss. In the open field, few people could cut Jordan either. In some respects, his skills recalled cross cross a little Alvin Kamara, who played the 2014 season in Hutchinson.

“But that was not going to happen for him overnight,” said Cross.

Waymond Jordan of the USC extends to mark a touch against Georgia Southern at the Colosseum on Saturday.

(Sean M. Haffy / Getty Images)

Jordan was by no means a finished product on arrival in Hutchinson. He hadn’t really learned to take care of his body yet. He was out of shape. He needed to add muscle and change his diet. In addition, he had trouble at the start with protection against passes.

Then his hamstrings started to disturb him.

“I knew it was in the best interest in him of Redshirt,” said Cross.

Hutchinson could afford to be patient with him. But it was a difficult pill to swallow for Jordan.

“He crossed a phase where he was a little down,” said Cross. “We had a lot of discussions. We were talking about every day. I just wanted to keep it focused, keep it locked up, keep it motivated.

“So, I and he talked about it, and I said,” You can either let it take the best of you, or you can stay motivated and work 10 times so hard. “”

It was a trainer conversation for Jordan. Cross implored him to get serious to take care of his body. He wanted it every day in the training room. They started following his meals. He started using the YMCA members of the head coach.

From that moment, Cross says: “I was toast, 24/7.”

He returned this second season resembling a completely different player. He has lost weight. It was stronger and more explosive. He had a complete recovery routine.

But his hamstrings still acted. Then, after appearing in two games as the first year in a red shirt, Jordan underwent a minor fracture in his foot.

“It was for him, as if he couldn’t take a break,” said Cross.

He wore a boot for a few weeks. When he returned, he had to play pain.

Even again, there were glimpse of what Jordan could be. At the end of the season, in a match against the No. 2 of Iowa Western Community College, Jordan broke out with two scores in the fourth quarter, one to 47 yards, the other 16, who helped put the Iowa Western. He finished with four races for 99 yards and two affected.

Hutchinson lost his next match against East Mississippi Community College and did not succeed in a national NJCAA title in 2023. But for Jordan, everything was up to this offseason.

“You have really seen him go to the next stage,” said Drew Dallas, Hutchinson head coach. “It was how quickly he hit the hole, how quickly and confident he played. He had cut the body fat almost not at all. It was just this crazy muscle ball which could very well see the field.”

This spring, as Word took place, some small schools like Florida Atlantic and Florida International began asking him questions.

At the end of this spring, Jordan had the scholarship offers it was waiting for.

Cross thought it would take the opportunity and run with it. And he wouldn’t have blamed him for doing it. In fact, he did not remember anyone in his stay in Hutchinson, refusing an opportunity for the FBS to return to the Junior College.

But in the case of Jordan, he thought that larger offers could come.

“He told me that if I stayed, I could come to places like [USC,]”Jordan remembers.” That everything would pay at the end. “”

USC Waymond Jordan’s balloon bearer cuts and changes the direction while carrying the ball against Georgia Southern to the Colosseum on Saturday.

(CARLIN STIEHL / LOS Angeles Times)

Jordan recalled Cross with a decision just a few minutes after their conversation.

“When you go?” Cross remembers asking him.

“He says no,” coach, I’m going to stay. I know what I can be. “”

Cross was amazed at the time. By thinking about this conversation, he laughs.

“He put everything on the red, I suppose,” he said.

But it took a week this season for Jordan’s bet to be justified. He rushed to 179 yards and two affected during the opening of the Hutchinson season on only 14 races. This Sunday, Cross received a call from a coach from the State of Michigan. Was Jordan real? Because, he said, they watched closely.

It was “a phone call after another, every week after that,” said Cross. Jordan rushed to 174 yards the following week, then 175 yards and four affected on Just nine The races of week 4. On a two -week section in November, Jordan exploded for 348 yards and four affected, which prompted the Missouri and the center of Florida, two Power Four schools, to offer him scholarships.

He finally had the opportunity he was waiting for. So, in December, just before the NJCAA qualifiers, Jordan has embarked on the center of Florida.

The USC only entered the stage this month, just as Jordan was appointed national player of the year of the Junior College. Other Power Four schools, such as North Carolina and Mississippi, already made their cases in Jordan. But the USC had a link to cross Doug Belk, the secondary coach of Trojan horses.

The USC did not necessarily need to run, after already adding an explosive transfer of the New Mexico Eli Sanders to its class. But when Anthony Jones, the USC runner coach, spoke to Jordan on the phone, he left convinced that “USC needed this young man”.

“Waymond has checked all the boxes we are looking for,” said Jones.

Hutchinson beat Iowa Western to win the NJCAA national title despite the total Iowa Western efforts to bottle Blue Dragons star. Two weeks later, he was on the USC campus.

As soon as Jordan called him during his visit to La, Cross knew that he was committed to the USC.

Nine months later, the same ball carrier who did not have a single division that I offer as a high school student launched from the rear field of the USC, weaving a crowd of defenders en route to the zone of the goals of the Colosseum, just like Reggie Bush, Marcus Allen and Oj Simpson did it in the past.

While he marked his first hit as Troy, Jordan looked up in the stands and saw his family.

He had waited four years sometimes frustrating for this moment.

“His patience, his perseverance really transformed him into something much larger and better,” said Dallas.

“I think it’s as important in his trip as anything.”