Little brother of NBA centre takes his shot in CFL trenches
When your eldest brother snaps the tape measure at 6-foot-11 and just happens to pull down rebounds and throw down monstrous dunks for a living in the NBA, he can cast a pretty long shadow.
Avery Jordan, the youngest of four boys in the Jordan family behind the eldest, Dallas Mavericks centre DeAndre Jordan, knows that all too well.
But Avery, a healthy 6-foot-5 and 281 pounds himself, is just getting started making his own name in the professional sports ranks.
And if you believe Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach June Jones, he’s well on his way to establishing himself as a dominant force, much the way his older brother has in the NBA.
Jordan made his first CFL start for the Ticats as the team’s starting left tackle Saturday against Ottawa. The job came open when the Ticats dealt Tony Washington to Montreal as part of the Johnny Manziel trade and Jones turned the spot over to his professionally untested rookie.
Washington was not only a popular player among his Ticats teammates, he was an integral part of that five-man unit that protected quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. As the left tackle, he was also perhaps the most important lineman, protecting Masoli’s blind side as he did.
He was also the most senior member of that group, and the eldest player on the Ticats roster.
So it’s not out of the question to wonder how a 23-year-old raw rookie could just step in and fill Washington’s rather large shoes.
The answer is extremely good athletic genes and a work ethic that immediately endeared Jordan to his teammates and coaches.
The Ticats offensive line is not unlike most other offensive lines in the CFL — a tight-unit that relies on cohesion and familiarity with one another to ultimately keep their quarterback clean.
Only playing with cohesion can an O -line keep five quarterbackhungry behemoths — not to mention any blitzing linebackers or safeties — off their quarterback.
Long before he was a member of the Ticats — he only came off the practice roster last Friday — Jordan was taking part in these meetings with no idea his first big chance was right around the corner.
It was that diligence and his raw athletic ability that had Jones fully expecting the kind of seamless transition he witnessed Saturday when the Ticats offensive line had just one busted coverage all game.
Veteran centre Mike Filer, like his head coach, liked what he saw from the Ticats’ new left tackle.
“He has been here from the start,” Filer said of Jordan. “He has earned the trust of the coaches from early on to, what are we now, Week 8? So for him to go out there and play the game he played, I thought he did a really good job. He impressed a lot of us. He proved he can play in this league — but it will continue to be a test for him because he’s going to play new guys with different strengths and weaknesses every week now.”
Best of all, the consensus among all those Ticats talking about Jordan: To a man they all believe he is only going to get better.