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Linebacker Works to Make Up Lost Season
by Kenyari Addison
Back in pads after missing a season
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Senior Linebacker Xavier Jordan returns to the gridiron for spring practice with lots of anticipation and determination.
He thinks about what happened last September during the season's opening game against Greensboro College.
"It was a freak accident. I remember it like it was yesterday. There were 12 minutes left in the second quarter. I was running down the field on special team and heard something pop… I thought I broke my toe."
Unable to finish the game, Jordan later discovered he would be unable to complete the season. He first got X-rays taken at Mars Hill Medical Center, but they could not tell him exactly what had happened and referred him to Blue Ridge Bone and Joint in Asheville. There Dr. Jay C. Jansen determined that his left foot required surgery.
He wouldn't step on a football field again for six months.
"I was nervous about having surgery. I'd never been hurt before and didn't know what to expect."
Jordan, a senior, saw a lot of action his freshman year backing LaShawn Miller, and he became a starter his sophomore and junior years.
Looking forward to one more season of sacks like this!
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During Jordan's 25 game career at Mars Hill College, he has recorded a total of 121 tackles, 18 for a loss, eight sacks and four interceptions. In his last game against Greensboro he made five tackles, two for losses, including a sack.
He had been looking forward to a promising senior year. For the first time he spent his summer working out with the team's strength and condition coach, Chuck Phifer. He was "amped" about what was supposed to be his final season wearing the Blue and Gold Lions Uniform.
"It was my first summer staying up here [Mars Hill], working out and getting ready for this year, and then I get hurt. I felt like it was all for nothing."
"When I first hurt my foot, I felt that I was not going to be able to play football anymore. I thought that it was not for me to play football anymore."
He spent the rest of the season having to watch from the sidelines as his team carried on without him.
But that doesn't mean he has been idle. As fellow Lions have battled and sweated on the gridiron, Jordan has also battled and sweated, doing extensive leg workouts, water aerobics, and other exercises recommended by his therapists to promote healing. During the off season, he has continued to work hard to regain his competitive edge.
Now, as spring training begins, Jordan is optimistic.
"I was nervous the first time I ran on it, [my foot] - afraid that I was going to re-aggravate or re-injure it, but I was ready to join my fellow Lions and play again," he said. He grabbed his helmet, twirled it in his hand, and smiled.
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