by Ryan Myers
Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated.
At Draft 412, the NFL draft talk never ends. We will keep you ready for the next set of gridiron stars—from today and all the way until draft night 2024. We will bring you mock drafts, player profiles, individual team needs, and everything else you may need related to the 2024 NFL Draft.
Today’s Spotlight - Louisville, Running Back, Jawhar Jordan
Name - Jawhar Jordan
Pos - Running Back
Team - Louisville
HT/WT - 5’10” 185 lbs.
Born - 08/19/1999
Home – Long Island, NY
Jawhar Jordan was born in Long Island but played his high school football at Hamilton High School in Chandler, Arizona. In his senior year of high school, Jordan rushed for 1,774 yards and 27 touchdowns, rushed for 100+ yards in 8 out of 12 games, and averaged 9.6 yards per carry and 147.8 yards per contest. He also caught 16 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown during this season. Out of high school, Jordan was given a 3-star recruit rating by ESPN, Rivals.com, and 247sports.
After high school, Jordan attended Syracuse. In his freshman year, he appeared in 4 games in which he had 306 all-purpose yards. He redshirted in that season with hopes of being the starter in his sophomore year in 2020. However, this season was cut short for Jordan due to a season ending injury he sustained in just the third game of the year. This was a difficult setback for him, and he decided to hit the transfer portal after the 2020 season.
In 2021, Jordan selected Louisville as the next stop in his football career. This was his redshirt sophomore season and he saw little playing time as he recovered from injury and saw most of the rushing being done by Junior QB Malik Cunningham and Junior RB Tiyon Evans.
His first full year as a starter came in 2022 where he rushed for 815 yards and 4 touchdowns while averaging almost 7 yards per carry. He also had 85 receiving yards to go along with his good rushing numbers. Again, he shared much of the rushing duties with Senior QB Malik Cunningham in 2022.
Jordan returned to Louisville as a redshirt senior for the 2023 season where the backfield was his to lose. In just 5 games this year, Jordan has rushed for 510 yards and 6 touchdowns while averaging almost 8 yards per carry. He has also shown his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield with his 7 receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown. He averages 22 yards per catch.
Jordan is a fast but patient runner, making good reads when holes open up, giving him opportunities to get to the next level of the defense. He waits for the play to develop but hits the hole with burst to gain every yard possible. He can be a power runner when called on to do so, even with his lack of ideal size.
As an NFL prospect, Jordan may be best used in an outside zone type offense, but he packs enough punch to run inside the tackles as well. He also shows reliable receiving ability out of the backfield to make him even more versatile.
Jordan is small for the position and struggles as a blocker. At 5’10” and 185 pounds, he is not going to run through a lot of NFL tacklers like he can in college. He runs hard and has great lateral movement and make-miss ability, but he will not immediately be a strong, consistent tackle breaker in the NFL.
Strengths
Speed
Patience
Versatility
Ball security
Weaknesses
Blocking
Strength
Tackle-breaking
Final Analysis
Jawhar Jordan is off to a tremendous start to his last college season and is on pace for well over 1,000 yards rushing. He provides a well-rounded skill set, which includes speed, power, elusiveness, and pass-catching. He can run in any scheme he is asked to and shows all the necessary assets to be a big play threat in any offense. He plays with strong fundamentals and has great ball security, as he has not fumbled once in his entire collegiate career.
He does not show effective blocking and tackle breaking ability at all times, but the stronger he gets, the better he will be with these parts of his game. His versatility and leadership will be of good value to any NFL offense.
Draft 412 Draft Projection - Round 6 or Round 7