Jordan Ward
	Height	6-3
	Weight	225
	40-yard Dash	4.6
	Bench Press	300
	Squat	420
	Vertical Leap	34 inches

First-team All-District 23-6A
ESPN: **
247sports: **
Rivals: **
Scout: **
247sports: No. 163 OLB
247sports: No. 341 player in Texas

Last Year Statistics

125 tackles
11 tackles for loss
3 sacks
2 fumble recoveries
1 interception

Strengths as a Player

Jordan Ward is a tall, rangy defender whose speed allows him to cover a lot of ground in a hurry, making plays from one sideline to the other. He’s such a prolific tackler (his 125 were by far the most on the Kempner defense) that many teams gameplanned to get away from him, but his speed allowed him to chase down a lot of ball carriers from behind. Ward’s size, speed and background as a safety and receiver make him effective in coverage, and he has the reach and ball skills to intercept the ball, or at least knock it down, when he can get to it.

Interviews

Kempner head coach Darrin Andrus on Jordan Ward:

Jordan has started since his sophomore year. We had him at wide receiver, but moved him over to defense in 11th grade. With his size and speed, he can cover receivers everywhere and cover backs out of the backfield. He’s going to end up either at outside linebacker — I think they want him at that hybrid (Star) linebacker spot in their defense — or I could see him getting to 230-240 pounds and playing inside.

We run basically the same defense he’ll play in at SMU. He’s really good at setting the edge, but he also is good at covering backs out of the backfield. He’s the total package for the position.

He’s a big guy, and he’s going to get bigger. Kids around the district call him “Adonis.” His half-brother (is) big, his mom is a tall lady. I can’t wait to see how big he’ll get.

Jordan is a pretty quiet leader, but he’s a leader. He’s not a vocal guy — he does what he does and leads by example, and he is never a discipline problem. You never have to worry about him going out at night.

Jordan is a guy a lot of schools wanted. He had Cal come in, Northwestern came in, Stanford came in. They wanted to see his transcript and they wanted to know how solid he was to SMU, because he’s a very good player and a very good student. He has the grades to go to any of those schools.

He reminds me a lot of George Iloka. He has the same body type, and he has the same smarts. They’re both extremely smart.

Jordan’s only going to get better when he gets to SMU. He made some big-time plays for us, and we were not very good on defense. We didn’t have a great surrounding cast around him, so he had to make a lot of plays on his own to keep us in games.

Jordan Ward on why he chose SMU:

The biggest thing with SMU was that great family atmosphere. When a lot of the coaches talked about coaching together earlier in their careers, that was really cool, because it showed the bond they have with each other, and they have our best interests at heart. My personality just clicked with those guys’.

I knew Coach Malone before I met Coach McDaniel. I went to an Oklahoma State camp when Coach Malone was coaching there. One of my friends — his mom and Coach Malone went to school together, I think, or they were friends. Anyway, I met Coach Malone through them, and when I saw him at camp, he was the DBs coach and I was a receiver. When I switched over to defense, junior year, Coach Malone called me, and said he was real interested in offering me a scholarship.

I talked to some of the (SMU) linebackers, and they had nothing but good things to say about Coach Mac (McDaniel). They said he can be like a father figure; after you finish playing, you still can talk to him, and after the season, he’s still in contact with you. He’s your coach, but it’s a good, friendly relationship.

They don’t play around with you. If they’re interested in you, they offer, and I wanted to go to a school where I really felt wanted.

I assume I’m still growing. My half-brother is 6-7, dad 6-4, sisters about 6 feet. I have one relative on my dad’s side who is 6-11, so I guess I’m still going.

I wasn’t against (moving from offense to defense). I played defensive end and linebacker in little league. In high school, they wanted me to focus on tight end and wide receiver, but at our school, we’re mainly a running offense. We had a new defensive coordinator, and he sat me down and said that based on my size and speed, I could be a great safety. I was excited — I’d never played safety before, but I took to it right away.

I know Chris Banjo a little. He and (fellow Kempner alum) George Iloka (now with the Cincinnati Bengals) came by our school, and it was great to see them. I was already sold on SMU, but (Banjo) talked about what a great experience he had there. Everybody here loves him — it was great to see him.

(Host) Jordon (Williams) said he loves playing there, even though he redshirted this year. He said (the coaches) will work you hard and push you, but he said it’s a great place and he loves the school and the coaches.”