Story Time: The Draft

            What if I told you I attended an NFL Draft party; is that something you might be interested in? Well it happened. In a million years I never would have thought I would be sitting in the same room as an NFL prospect when he got the phone call of a lifetime.

            The summer of 2012 was an eventful one for me to say the least. I had a summer job at the Penn State Golf Courses just for shits and giggles. It was an easy job; I was outside all day and I got free golf. How could it get any better for a college student? I was told by my boss one day that we’d be getting an intern from the Penn State football team. My first thought, being the Penn State fan that I am was this is going to be awesome. My second thought was that it would be the backup punter because you never see the starting quarterback or another premiere player with an internship. When I got to work on that day I was walking up to the clubhouse and standing at the door was Penn State’s starting defensive tackle Jordan Hill. I knew who Jordan was, I had seen him play for 3 previous years, but I didn’t know him. He came up to me, shook my hand and said, “what’s goin on, I’m Jordan”, I proceeded to do the same. We worked together for about 5 hours during the day so we got to build some sort of friendship over the eight weeks he interned. In July, roughly two weeks after the NCAA handed down the sanctions from the Jerry Sandusky scandal and Jordan’s two roommates, receiver Justin Brown and tailback Silas Redd, had transferred due to part of the sanctions. Jordan came up to me at work one day prior to both transferring and said if they ended up leaving that he would need a new roommate. Thinking he was joking, I laughed and said, “yeah I’m in”, turns out he wasn’t joking. I got a phone call a couple of days later from Jordan saying both roommates were gone and he proceeded to ask me if I was still interested in moving in. I talked to my parents, called him back and told him I’d move in. The rest is history.

            Fast forward to November 24^th; Senior Day against Wisconsin, Jordan had the game of his life. He recorded 12 tackles (8 solo), 3 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks. He was a dominant force down the stretch for the defense. After the game we all headed back to our apartment to celebrate, and to say that the celebration was big is an understatement.

Once the New Year rolled around it was time for Jordan to get to work in preparation for the NFL. I knew that it took a lot of time, commitment, and hard work for someone to make it to the NFL but never in my life had I seen someone dedicate more time to something than Jordan. He had essentially change his lifestyle to get his body right for the next level and what would come with it. There were also some perks that came along with that preparation too; his agent had hooked him up with a Mercedes Benz for the time being while he was still in State College, needless to say that Jordan and I had a good spring. 

            As the NFL Draft was fast approaching Jordan had been taking visits to teams and participating in private workouts. We all had high hopes as to where he would get drafted. It was hard to not read the projections for him; some had him late first round. Others had him second round and some had him third round. Regardless, we knew he’d get drafted. Friday, April 27^th, the second round of the NFL Draft. The day began with Jordan’s family and friends coming into town early to start the festivities, all in all there was probably 15 of us in our townhouse. The second round didn’t start until the late evening so it was a long day of eating and some drinking. Once the second round was underway, the waiting game had begun. The second round had come and gone with no phone call. The room was still lively as there there was still one round to go. The tension started to rise however as the third round was winding down, there were 12 picks left and his phone still hadn’t rang.

Pick number 86, the Indianapolis Colts were on the clock and the phone went off. We all started to cheer because we assumed it was the Colts. It wasn’t the Colts; it was the Seattle Seahawks. Jordan’s name came up on the screen, as he was the 87^th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Pandemonium ensued. Everyone let out one giant cheer. High fives and hugs were going around. Meanwhile, while Jordan was on the phone downstairs, the rest of us cracked opened some beers and poured some liquor; it was time to have fun. About an hour later we headed down to the bars for an even bigger party. I don’t recall all of what happened that night but I do know this, it was a night I’ll never forget.

My friendship with Jordan is more of a big brother; I look up to him for what he’s gone through on and off the field. He looks out for me when I need it. He’s the best man in my wedding and one of my closest friends. He worked harder than anyone I had ever met, and he still does. His NFL career is just getting started and it’s going to be something special. Keep doing your thing buddy; the best is yet to come.