Jordan Lynch (born October 3, 1990) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

. After playing

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

, where he was a finalist for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

in 2013, and going undrafted in the

2014 NFL Draft The 2014 NFL draft was the 79th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players to the league. The draft, officially the "Player Selection Meeting", was held at Radio City Music Hall in New ...

, Lynch had stints with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

and

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

. Lynch is currently the head football coach of Mount Carmel High School in his hometown of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. He succeeded Frank Lenti, who was the coach of the program for 34 years.

High school career

After graduating from St. Christina Elementary School in the Mt. Greenwood area of Chicago, Lynch attended Chicago (IL) Mount Carmel and graduated in 2009. He played varsity for three years under coach Frank Lenti. He started two of those three years.

College career

At the beginning of his college career at NIU in DeKalb, IL Lynch was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2009. He was the backup quarterback to

Chandler Harnish Chandler Harnish (born July 28, 1988) is a former American football quarterback. He was the final pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, selected 253rd overall by the Indianapolis Colts, becoming Mr. Irrelevant 2012. He played college football for Northern ...

in 2010 and 2011. During those two years he completed 19 of 26 passes for 179 yards and two

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

. He also rushed for 608 yards on 76 carries with six touchdowns. In 2012, he became NIU's starting quarterback. During the 2012 marathon MAC Championship Game, Lynch increased his rushing stats to 1,771 yards on 271 carries, breaking the previous NCAA record for rushing yards in a season by a quarterback set by

Denard Robinson Denard Xavier Robinson (born September 22, 1990) is currently the Assistant Director of Player Personnel for the University of Michigan football program. Robinson is also a former American football running back who played for four seasons in th ...

. He finished the season with 1,815 yards. Lynch finished 7th in

Heisman The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

Voting at the end of 2012, and won the Vern Smith Leadership Award, which is awarded to the best player in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the t ...

. On October 19, 2013, Lynch broke the record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in one game, finishing with 316 yards and three touchdowns, en route to winning the Walter Camp National Player of the Week. On October 26 against

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

, Lynch was responsible for six total touchdowns, throwing four, running for one, and catching a touchdown, gaining 339 total yards. On November 26, 2013, in

Dekalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian-French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died d ...

, Lynch broke the single-game quarterback rushing yards record again, rushing for 321 yards versus the

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

Broncos. On December 9, 2013, Lynch was announced as a finalist for the 2013

. He finished third in the voting that was announced on December 14, 2013. On December 17, Lynch was selected as a first-team All-American. He finished the season with 1,920 rushing yards, which broke his record from the previous season.

College statistics

NCAA records

* Second most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season: 1,920 (2013) * Most 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback in a season: 12 (2012) * Second most rushing yards per game by a quarterback in a season: 137.1 (2013)

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Lynch was eligible for the

, but was not drafted. The

signed him to a contract as a running back shortly after the draft concluded. The Bears released Lynch on August 29, 2014.

Edmonton Eskimos

On January 14, 2015, Lynch signed with the

of the Canadian Football League. Lynch scored his first CFL touchdown against the

Ottawa RedBlacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Starti ...

on Thursday, July 9. Lynch was part of the Eskimos team that won the

2015 Grey Cup The 103rd Grey Cup was a Canadian football game that was played on November 29, 2015 between the East Division champion Ottawa Redblacks and the West Division champion Edmonton Eskimos to decide the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship f ...

, and scored the game-winning touchdown with 3:22 remaining in the game for the Eskimos. On March 8, 2017, Lynch announced his retirement from professional football. The same day, the Northern Illinois University Athletic Department announced that Lynch had been hired as a running backs coach for the Huskies football program.

Coaching career

Northern Illinois University

On March 8, 2017, NIU hired Lynch as the teams running backs coach. Lynch served under his former head coach

Rod Carey Roderick Charles Carey (born July 24, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Northern Illinois University from 2012 to 2018 and Temple University from 2019 to 2021. Early years Carey was bo ...

, who was hired as NIU's head coach after Lynch's junior season.

Mount Carmel High School

In December 2017, Mount Carmel High School in Chicago announced that Lynch would be returning to the school as the team's head coach. He replaced Frank Lenti, who has been the head coach of the program for 34 years and won 11 state championships, in a move that received some shock and criticism from local media and fans.
In November 2019, Lynch led the Caravan to their 13th IHSA Football State Championship, defeating Nazareth Academy 37-13. Lynch's younger brother Justin, the Caravan's quarterback, rushed for all five Mount Carmel touchdowns in the victory.
In November 2022, Lynch Led the Caravan to their 14th IHSA Football State Championship, and 26th overall, over Batavia, the Caravan′s second straight year eliminating the Bulldogs from the playoffs. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/10/23/22742054/ihsa-state-football-playoff-pairings-class7a-illinois

References

External links

Edmonton Eskimos profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Jordan 1990 births Living people American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian football quarterbacks Chicago Bears players Edmonton Elks players Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football players High school football coaches in Illinois Players of American football from Chicago Players of Canadian football from Chicago Coaches of American football from Illinois