Part II: Jordan Carey Commitment

This is Part II of two parts to the Jordan Carey commitment.

We had the pleasure of talking to Jordan’s father, Michael Carey. It allowed us to get some more insight into his son and his son's abilities.

Jordan Carey can be classified as a true athlete. There is little that he has not done on the football field, as you will find out from reading this Part II story.

Look at these vitals and statistics:

Size: 5-foot-11 ½ and 196 pounds.

40-yard dash time: 4.43 at the Nike camp and his lowest was 4.37 on his high school’s track.

20-yard shuttle time: Phenomenal 3.92 seconds

100-meters time: 10.73 seconds, which is outstanding for someone that does not specialize in doing the 100-meters all the time.

Bench: very respectable 265 pounds

Squat: an outstanding 460 pounds for a recruit his size – “I concentrate on my legs, as that is what I need most for what I do.”

Vertical: 32 inches at the Nike camp and his best-recorded leap was 33 ½ inches.

As a junior last season, Jordan carried the ball 65 times for 897 yards in addition to gaining another 360 yards on 22 receptions.

“He was two for five passing for one touchdown,” Mr. Jordan said. “He had 22 touchdowns total last year. He had eight interceptions for a touchdown. A fumble recovery for a touchdown.”

What is remarkable about the eight interceptions is that most all teams would throw to the opposite side of the field from where Jordan was playing.

It doesn’t stop there.

He had nine punt returns for 264 yards with two being returned for touchdowns. He had 10 kick off returns for 327 yards and one touchdown.

“The nice thing about Jordan is that he is versatile,” Jordan’s dad said in what might be an understatement.

His high school plays the wing-T, which allows him to play wingback and wide receiver on offense. He can play quarterback and last season he punted for his team. He returned punts and kick-offs. On defense, he played safety and corner back.

Does he come off of the field, you ask? No, he doesn’t. With all of the above, he has no time to come off the field.

Honors from last year:

He was voted by the local coaches as the Narrows League’s first-team most valuable player. He made second-team all-league for the wide receiver position. He was named the South Sound Player of the Year. He was named Prep Player of the Week by The Olympian newspaper. He was voted his team’s MVP for the seventh time in a row. Yes, seven times his teammates gave him that honor.

Michael Carey had his father send three game tapes to former star Michigan running back, Chuck Ortman, who played in the 50’s.

“He said that Jordan has the best hands that he has ever seen. And he said that he always shakes the first tackler.” On some plays Jordan would be seen averting or breaking away from seven defenders.

Jordan Carey had other offers and probably would have received more over the next few months.

What were his reasons for picking Oregon?

“It was a number of things,” Mr. Carey said. “We felt there was great support in academics for the student-athletes. He loved the coaching staff. He loved the school, the town and it is not too big.” The family had the feeling that they ran a family type atmosphere at the university.

Interesting note: One time at the Oregon camp, coach Dan Ferrigno saw something that he liked and pulled him aside to work with the wide receivers.

In summation: Oregon’s gain and other teams’ loss. The Oregon Ducks got a recruit with tremendous quickness, speed, versatility, mental toughness, soft hands and lower body strength. Quality, Quality, Quality!