As a senior wide receiver for Cal U, Jordan Dandridge is having success on the field, but it was not always like that for him.
Dandridge is from Duluth, Georgia, a city about twenty miles from downtown Atlanta and has a smaller population of around 30,000. After high school, Dandridge went to a prep school called the Atlanta Sports Academy.
“I was thinking about going the JUCO (Junior College) route, but my coach spoke to me and a couple of teammates about this prep school where we wouldn’t lose eligibility like if we went to JUCO,” he said.
Dandridge learned about Cal U from his stepdad who is a Cal U alumnus. His stepdad contacted the university and made arrangements for Dandridge to take a tour of the campus and meet the coaches. Jordan ended up coming to Cal U after spending time at the Atlanta Sports Academy.
At Duluth, Dandridge was a multi-sport athlete. While playing football in the fall, he also played lacrosse in the spring. “I played football most of my life and our high school coach who was also the track coach wanted the football players to do track in the spring if they already didn’t do a spring sport. But I didn’t want to do track, so my math teacher asked a couple teammates and I if we have ever thought about lacrosse and I haven’t. Also, one of my friends, who was on the lacrosse team, told me they were having tryouts and I ended up trying out and playing for three years,” Jordan said on how he started playing lacrosse. “One of the reasons that I stopped playing lacrosse was because they didn’t record the games like they did for football. Football had huddle and other things, while lacrosse didn’t have anything to record games to rewtch them again. Also, I wanted my main focus to be on to football.”
During his time at Cal U, Dandridge has had several injuries that kept taking him off the field. In 2017, Jordan started three games, but his season ended early as he tore his ACL and medical redshirt the rest of the season. In 2018, he started seven games before dislocating his leg and having a severe high ankle sprain.
That season, he had earned All-PSAC West Second Team honors.
“These injuries made me appreciate everything more because sitting out on terms you can’t control is tough,” he said.
Dandridge is one of twelve seniors on the team and the only senior wide receiver.
“Since I dealt with my own injuries and I know how tough mentally it can be, I try to be the person that if someone isn’t having a good day on or off the field that the person know I got their back with things,” he said.
“Even though I don’t talk a lot in the moment, I try and show my actions towards my teammates to show them how I feel.”
For this season Jordan and his team’s goal this season is to win the PSAC and make the playoffs. But for Jordan’s individual goal this season he said, “I want to finish this season having no regrets. I could care less about the stats as long as I give everything I can, I would be happy with that.”
Jordan is a Liberal Studies Major who wants to go on and become either a child psychologist or a sports psychologist.
Jordan has 23 receptions, 349-yards, and five touchdowns so far this season in five games. With an already career high in touchdowns, he is also on pace to have career highs in receptions and yards.
“I’m leaving everything out onto the field because this is my last season to play. I looked up to older teammates in the past and tried to imitate their work ethic. Those practices and workouts during the week help me get the results on the field. Also, by having a good work ethic I can also set an example for my teammates,” he said.