The Jump from JUCO: How One Student Athlete Used the Junior College Route to Success

Senior year is an exciting time in a high school athlete’s life. After a final season on the gridiron, the best football players are flooded with offers and visits to the top college programs in the country. A player may imagine becoming the “Big Man on Campus” and winning a National Championship or the Heisman Trophy at the next level. 

But for others, the offers don’t come, and their dreams of being a collegiate student-athlete are dashed. But one burgeoning star refused to give up on his dreams after high school, instead taking his talents to junior college.

Now at a blue-blood program, Waymond Jordan Jr. is a lesson in perseverance for young athletes across the country. 

Friday at the University of Southern California, the Trojans continued to prepare for the upcoming football season at Howard Jones Field. In today’s college football landscape, rosters are often constructed from a patchwork of players from all over the country and with different levels of experience.

When Head Coach Lincoln Riley made the shocking decision to leave the University of Oklahoma for USC in 2022, he filled the roster with 25 transfers, which was unheard of in the days before the portal. In the years since, USC has upped its high school recruiting, culminating in a No. 1-ranked 2026 class.

Waymond Jordan Jr. is one of the few players in camp who didn’t come out of high school or another Division 1 program.

Nicknamed the “Junkyard Dog” for his tenacity as a child playing against older players, the junior college transfer from Hutchinson Community College (Kan.) is excited to be a Trojan. After flying under the radar during his recruitment out of high school and battling injuries, the Florida native has found a home in L.A. 

“I done believed this since I was a little boy,” Jordan Jr. told reporters after practice Friday. “That I would play at a big school. I didn’t know which school, but I knew it would be a big school.” 

Smack dab in the middle of the country, Hutchinson, Kansas, is a quintessential Midwestern small town where Jordan started his collegiate career. A long way from his native Florida, Jordan Jr. said that playing football at Hutchinson Community College helped him “understand the meaning of patience.” 

Riley spoke about the value of a junior college player when praising Jordan Jr. during fall camp. “If it’s one thing to know about junior college guys, they love football,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of junior college guys who don’t love football. Because if you don’t love football, you might not be very motivated to go play at a junior college. It’s a challenging way, there’s no doubt, but if you want it bad enough, you will. Typically, they have that, so if they have character and you feel like you like what you see on tape, you can get a diamond in the rough. I know that we got one.”

“It takes a different type of love to keep playing this sport,” Jordan Jr. echoed. “Because you’re in the middle of nowhere, less resources, you just see a lot of guys fall out. But if you just love the game, you stick with it.” 

Last season, Jordan Jr. was named the 2024 NJCAA DI Football Offensive Player of the Year. That year, he helped the Hutchinson Blue Dragons win the 2024 NJCAA DI Football Championship. Rushing for over 1,600 yards, he averaged an astounding 7.4 yards per carry en route to the title. 

In high school, Jordan Jr. was just as much of a beast. Forming a deadly backfield tandem with future Florida Gator Ja’Kobi Jackson, the duo combined for over 4,700 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns in two seasons at Pensacola Catholic High School. 

Jordan Jr. finished his high school career at nearby Escambia High School. In the 2022 season, he had 1,125 rushing yards on 140 carries (8.8 avg.) for 12 TDs. Despite gaudy numbers, Jordan Jr. felt underrecruited, but he decides not to dwell on the past. 

“I don’t even know [why I was underrecruited],” he said. “I just looked at the future honestly, and kept going.” 

Prep players probably hear from their coaches often about the importance of attitude, character, and personality. But Lincoln Riley emphasized that Jordan’s journey to Southern California was much more about personal character than where he came from.

“We probably would not have taken Waymond had we not had a few people at his junior college– guys that are coaches, guys that we have relationships with or worked with–that told us what he was like,” Riley added. “But I love junior college guys.” 

Now a junior, Jordan will be an important piece at running back for the Trojans in 2025. The bright lights and stages of college football are always alluring to young athletes, but the journey to success comes from many different paths. Waymond Jordan Jr. proves that the junior college route is just another path on the journey to the top.