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Jordan Chrisman has two football dreams.
“I want to help Blue Springs High School win a state championship and I want to play college ball at Arkansas,” said Chrisman, a 6-foot-4, 268-pound defensive lineman who made quite an impact at the Arkansas’ Senior Camp.
He was rated among the top five campers and earned a feature article on Hawgsports.com entitled “Born to be a Razorback.”
“That really caught me off guard,” said Chrisman, who is preparing for the opening of the Wildcats preseason camp next Monday. “You can’t believe the talent that was at that senior camp – guys from Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Arkansas – they came from all over.
“I’d talk to one guy and he’d tell me was going to Oklahoma, and another guy said he was being recruited by Florida State and there was a USC guy. It was an amazing experience. I’ve played against some great, great players the past couple of years in the Suburban Big Seven – but they were nothing like the talent I saw down there.
“And that’s what I want to be, and elite player.”
Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe believes Chrisman can reach that status, and it all begins Monday.
“We need to see a maximum effort from Jordan every time he’s on the field, or in the weight room,” Donohoe said. “He’s a senior this year, and we expect great leadership from our seniors.
“In the past, Jordan has been able to get by on his great athletic ability. Now that he’s a senior, we want him to become one of those players that opponents have to plan for – they have to know where he is every minute he’s on the field.
“And we all think he can become that type of player. But it’s up to Jordan. I know he’s excited after going to that Senior Camp at Arkansas, and he should be. To find out you can compete against the best players in the country is pretty special.
“We saw some of that when we went to team camp at Pitt State. He was offered a scholarship by Pitt, and that’s pretty darned good. Can he take it to the next level and get some Division I offers? I think he can.”
Chrisman met with members of the Arkansas coaching staff and they told him to keep in touch this season.
Jordan Chrisman has two football dreams.
“I want to help Blue Springs High School win a state championship and I want to play college ball at Arkansas,” said Chrisman, a 6-foot-4, 268-pound defensive lineman who made quite an impact at the Arkansas’ Senior Camp.
He was rated among the top five campers and earned a feature article on Hawgsports.com entitled “Born to be a Razorback.”
“That really caught me off guard,” said Chrisman, who is preparing for the opening of the Wildcats preseason camp next Monday. “You can’t believe the talent that was at that senior camp – guys from Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Arkansas – they came from all over.
“I’d talk to one guy and he’d tell me was going to Oklahoma, and another guy said he was being recruited by Florida State and there was a USC guy. It was an amazing experience. I’ve played against some great, great players the past couple of years in the Suburban Big Seven – but they were nothing like the talent I saw down there.
“And that’s what I want to be, and elite player.”
Blue Springs coach Kelly Donohoe believes Chrisman can reach that status, and it all begins Monday.
“We need to see a maximum effort from Jordan every time he’s on the field, or in the weight room,” Donohoe said. “He’s a senior this year, and we expect great leadership from our seniors.
“In the past, Jordan has been able to get by on his great athletic ability. Now that he’s a senior, we want him to become one of those players that opponents have to plan for – they have to know where he is every minute he’s on the field.
“And we all think he can become that type of player. But it’s up to Jordan. I know he’s excited after going to that Senior Camp at Arkansas, and he should be. To find out you can compete against the best players in the country is pretty special.
“We saw some of that when we went to team camp at Pitt State. He was offered a scholarship by Pitt, and that’s pretty darned good. Can he take it to the next level and get some Division I offers? I think he can.”
Chrisman met with members of the Arkansas coaching staff and they told him to keep in touch this season.
“They want me to send them tapes of our first three games,” Chrisman said. “I know they didn’t tell that to everyone who attended the camp. It was pretty intense. It was one day and there were about 50 guys there and I was one of the top guys when it ended.
“I know they didn’t know anything about me before I went. I honestly didn’t know what to expect before I went. But I was happy with the way things worked out, I really was.”
While Chrisman wants to star on the field in his last season as a Wildcat, he also wants to show the younger players what it takes to be the best.
“It’s an honor to play football at Blue Springs High School, and I want all the young guys to be aware of that,” Chrisman said. “But I want this to be special for all the seniors, too, because we’ve had a lot of success the past couple of years and won a lot of games – but we haven’t made it to state.
“Heck, I’ve never even been on a team that’s beat Blue Springs South. But back when we were all sophomores, people started talking about this class. We have (Jared) Lanpher at quarterback and (Keeston) Terry at wide receiver and defensive back and a lot of great seniors.
“We lost Gus (Toca, The Examiner’s Defensive Player of the Year from 2008) to graduation, but have most of the other starters back. And we’re working hard because we know this is it. I want to keep playing football, and I’m going to do everything I can to play at a school like Arkansas, but right now all I’m concentrating on is my senior year at Blue Springs.
“If we work hard and don’t pay any attention to all the hype surrounding our team, we could have a special season.”
