Abby Drake
Staff Writer
In the fourth grade, junior Nick Jordan started his kicking career, and he is now within arm’s reach of taking it to the college level, as nine different universities show their interest in this Coppell player.
From pee wee, to middle school, to high school and now potentially on to college, Jordan has progressed and shined as a strong and impressive kicker.
During his freshman year, former coach Bob Shipley hoped to add him on the playoff roster, but Jordan was hurt and was unable to play. Despite this, Shipley still thought highly of him as a kicker and told many other coaches about his level of talent.
Shipley’s good word helped Jordan become the starting kicker his sophomore year when coach Joe McBride took over, and he has been the starting varsity kicker ever since, scoring CHS many valued points.
Although he had kicked for eight years, Jordan did not find true passion for the position until he was on varsity.
“I did not love kicking until McBride put me on varsity because that is when I realized that it was simple and I am good at it,” Jordan said. “Also, I know that I can make a lot of money for it some day.”
There is a lot of work and preparation that a player must do in order to get their name out to college coaches and teams. To ensure a good future for him, Jordan has gone to several kicking camps hosted by different universities where he does a series of drills and stats, and information is recorded by different scouts.
Jordan is also involved with the National Scouting Inc., which has his information and video footage of his kicking to mail to different colleges for evaluation. Also, Jordan goes to ranking camps held by Jamie Kole, a now personal friend of Jordan’s, where he is ranked as the top kicker of his age group.
“Nick is the only kid that works his position year round,” senior Tanner Rice said. “He kicks more often than not and is constantly putting himself in camps and competitions no matter what season.”
Through all of his work and dedication to the sport, nine major universities have their eye on his kicking.
Two schools, Iowa State and Texas Tech, have offered him four-year, full-rides to kick for their Division I schools. In addition, Missouri, Auburn and Florida want Jordan to come to one of their camps so that they see his kicking in person and compare it to the other kickers of his age group.
Texas A&M and Oklahoma have also showed some interest, but recently got commitments from kickers and have since stopped communication with Jordan.
Both the Texas and TCU showed interest in him and his high talent. Texas has only contacted Kole, who has all of Jordan’s information, but TCU has requested to see him kick in person.
There is no telling where he will permanently end up, but with all of the impressive offers there is a lot of anticipation regarding his decision.
After all of the hard work the possibilities are endless for Jordan; whether he is able to play professionally or not, he has a bright future in the sport.
“I am very proud of Nick and all that he has accomplished and would love to watch him play football past high school,” Jordan’s father Kelly Jordan said.
