Ty-Coreous Jordan (November 21, 2001December 25, 2020) was an American

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 rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player who was a

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 American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. He earned second-team all-conference honors and was named the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2020.

High school career

As a junior at

West Mesquite High School West Mesquite High School is a high school in Mesquite, Texas, United States. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Mesquite Independent School District. The school serves the western portion of Mesquite and most of the ...

Mesquite, Texas Mesquite is a suburban city located east of the city of Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Most of the city is located in Dallas County, though a small portion extends into Kaufman County. As of 2019 census estimates, the population was 140 ...

, Jordan

rushed ''Rushed'' is a 2021 American mystery thriller drama film directed by Vibeke Muasya and starring Siobhan Fallon Hogan (who also wrote the screenplay and co-produced the film) and Robert Patrick. Plot Barbara O’Brien, an Irish-Catholic mother i ...

for 1,236 yards and 16

touchdown 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 Ameri ...

s. In his senior year in 2019, he ran for 453 yards on 77 carries and had 41 receptions for 378 yards and scored a combined 11 touchdowns (7 rushing, 4 receiving). Jordan was also on the school's

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

team, running a personal-best 10.52 in the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

as a junior. Jordan initially committed verbally to play college ball for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

, but he decommitted and signed with the

instead.

College career

Amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

during the 2020 season at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

, Jordan made his college debut on his 19th birthday on November 21, 2020, when he had 53

all-purpose yards All-purpose yards or all-purpose yardage is a gridiron football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing t ...

on eight touches in a 33–17 loss to

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

. In his third game, he rushed 27 times for 167 yards for the first 100-yard rushing game by a Utah

true freshman 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 ...

since

Chris Fuamatu-Maʻafala Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala (; born March 4, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a fullback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for t ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. He later became the first Utes freshman since Fuamatu-Maʻafala to accumulate three straight 100-yard rushing games. Jordan finished the season with 597 rushing yards and six touchdowns in five games. His 144.6 all-purpose yards per game average ranked second among freshmen in the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

. The

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

named Jordan to their All-Pac-12 second team and voted him the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year. He was the first Utah player to garner conference freshman of the year recognition since Jason Kaufusi in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, when the Utes were in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

. Jordan was also named to the Freshman All-America team by ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

'' and the True Freshman All-American team by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

. The

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selected him as the Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year.

Personal life and death

In December 2018, Jordan's mother, Tiffany, was diagnosed with

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

. She received a

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...

diagnosis the following month in January. In November 2019, a picture went viral of Jordan kneeling with a friend on the opposing team in prayer for Jordan's mother. She died in August 2020. On December 25, 2020, Jordan died in

Denton, Texas Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...

, after being shot in the abdomen from an apparent self-inflicted accidental gunshot. He was 19 years old. His death on

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

was just a day after he was named the conference newcomer of the year. Jordan's memorial service was held on January 6, 2021, at

AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable roof, retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. I ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

. The University of Utah chartered a plane, and his service was attended by members of the athletic department and most of the football team and coaching staff. It was just the second memorial service ever held at AT&T Stadium—the first was the tribute to U.S. military sniper

Chris Kyle Christopher Scott Kyle (April 8, 1974 – February 2, 2013) was a United States Navy SEAL sniper. He served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat. He has over 150 c ...

in 2013.

Legacy

After his death, the Ty Jordan Memorial Scholarship was founded, and it was awarded to Aaron Lowe, whom Jordan played with in both high school and at Utah. Lowe changed his jersey number to No. 22 in Jordan’s honor. Lowe was shot and killed on September 26, 2021, which was nine months and one day after Jordan’s death. No. 22 was retired on October 30, 2021 in Jordan’s and Lowe’s memories. On December 3, 2021, at the Pac-12 Conference Championship, there was a “moment of loudness” in their memories.

References

External links