Penn State football: Ellison Jordan moves on from football

Penn State football’s Ellison Jordan had a strange offseason, but it has been confirmed he won’t play in 2019.

Injuries can make or break a player’s career in football. Some players might go down with a severe injury, but use the lost time as motivation to come back better than ever. Others aren’t as fortunate, as sometimes injuries can entirely derail a player’s career.

Penn State football has seen their fair share of injuries taking over a player’s progress. And this year, a knee injury has officially put a stop to one of their defensive tackles’ growth. Former four-star recruit Ellison Jordan had potential, but his body forced him to hit a roadblock.

The Junior defensive tackle had high hopes, as he was a four-star recruit coming into his redshirt season. During his debut year in 2017, he appeared in seven games where he logged nine total tackles and a half a sack. He wasn’t dominant in the trenches, but his small amount of progress set him up for an intriguing Sophomore effort.

When the 2018 season rolled around, Jordan managed to only appear in one game. Injuries got the best of him and put his college football career on a strange path. After conflicting reports from doctors during the offseason, Ellison Jordan seemed ready to return to the field — but not in Happy Valley.

After a series of Tweets and streamed videos two months ago, Jordan revealed that he was going to play football in 2019, but not at Penn State.  As it turns out, Jordan was frustrated and tweeting in the moment. He will remain at Penn State, but playing football is not going to happen.

The message from PSU

"“Ellison Jordan is no longer a member of the Penn State football team. He remains a student at Penn State with access to the resources and support provided for all Penn State students. He also retains access to Morgan Academic Center support services, and continued injury care as needed.”"

When the Nittany Lions’ preseason roster was released, Jordan was missing from the bunch. Knowing he was talking about a potential transfer, it was unclear if he was going to remain in Happy Valley, or seriously pack up and leave to take his talents elsewhere.

Now, it has been confirmed that Jordan will stay at Penn State, but will not be playing football in 2019. It’s a tough ending for a prospect who entered into his college career with so much upside, but in his case, health needs to come first.