As an athletically precocious eighth-grader, Jordan Floyd thought he might have a chance to eventually earn a college football scholarship. He just didn't think that opportunity would come so soon.
Now a starting wide receiver, strong safety and special teams standout for Loyola, the 6-foot-1 ½, 205-pound junior has already landed his first Division I offer.
Floyd received the big news after Maryland's 62-3 win over Morgan State – one day after he caught eight passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns in the Dons' 45-31 loss to DeMatha. Floyd made the trip to College Park with his parents, and all three joined Terps defensive coordinator Don Brown and assistant recruiting coordinator Ryan Steinberg for a post-game meeting.
"They came in talking about their game plan, schemes, stuff like that," Floyd said. "After that they were talking about my DeMatha game. Then they looked at my parents and said 'We want to offer Jordan a scholarship.' … I think [my parents] were really happy. None of us saw it coming. I know I was really happy, so they were happy. I was really surprised. It was crazy. So surreal."Based on the work Floyd put in over the summer and his sizzling start to the season, it probably shouldn't be a huge surprise that he's developed into a surefire Division I recruit. Floyd joined Loyola's varsity squad as a sophomore. Most of his 10th-grade year was spent familiarizing himself with the offense, blocking for others and doing the dirty work on special teams.
When the summer started, Floyd hit the combine circuit, attending "six or seven camps," including those at Maryland and Virginia. Whenever Floyd needed advice on jumpstarting the recruiting process, he looked no further for guidance than his older brother Brandon, a former Dons standout and current Georgetown student who spent a year on the Hoyas' football team.
"He basically said, 'Just play your game and don't expect anything. If you do what you have to do, good things will happen. Hard work pays off,'" Floyd said. "He was pushing me a lot this summer to run routes and work out all the time, just so that it will help me throughout the season."
That hard work has paid off so far, with Floyd catching 17 passes for 295 yards and five touchdowns in the first three games of the season. With increased production comes increased attention from opponents, but Floyd said he's ready.
"I definitely expected that," Floyd said. "That just makes me go hard in practice and the weight room. I'm just trying to work harder, and when we scout people, we just try to key on that, mainly because we pass the ball a lot. So I basically go hard in the weight room."
Maryland's not the only DI school that has made contact with Floyd. Boston College, Connecticut, Northwestern, Rutgers, Virginia and West Virginia have also been in touch. Floyd said it's way too early to start formulating a list, but he did grow up watching one of those aforementioned programs.
"It was definitely Maryland," Floyd said. "I was born and raised on Maryland. I definitely watched Maryland football."
For now, Floyd's 100 percent focused on his junior season with the Dons. He may make another unofficial visit or two, but at the moment, he's relishing every moment spent in high school, and thankful for his future college opportunities.
"It's great," Floyd said. "I honestly have to give it to my linemen. I wouldn't be in this position right now if not for my linemen and coaches. So I feel real fortunate. For awhile, I've been dreaming about it, and I never thought it would be a reality. I'm just overjoyed."
Baltimore Sun photo of Jordan Floyd by Karl Merton Ferron / Oct. 10, 2009