Oregon’s Jordon Scott Helping Feed The Less Fortunate While Home In Florida

Like many college football players who would be on campus and partaking of spring practice, Jordon Scott has been home working out each morning and hoping to reunite with his teammates much sooner than later.

In addition to putting in his workouts, the Oregon defensive lineman has been helping the less fortunate near his family’s Florida home.

Last week Scott and his mother, Kim, along with a handful of other volunteers, served more than 2,000 slices of pizza and beverages while spending time with the homeless and underprivileged youths in St. Petersburg.

It comes as no surprise that Scott, who found out about the opportunity to volunteer via a Facebook post, would be among those lending a helping hand.

“Giving has always been a part of my life,” said Scott, who returned home in mid-March as Oregon’s campus was shutting down due to the coronavirus. “My mom always told me to give back. When we were little kids, every year before school started, my mom had us take our old school clothes to Goodwill or give them to other kids that she knew needed them.” 

Scott has been giving of his time at Oregon, including helping assist the Special Olympics since the end of his freshman year. A little over a month ago he and a couple of his teammates provided an opportunity for Special Olympians in and around Eugene to experience some of the same drills the Ducks go through.

“We set up a couple of our drills to simulate what we do during the Fourth Quarter (off-season training) program to give them a little insight about how we train and how hard we work for the season,” said Scott.  

Much like when it comes to helping others, keeping up with his studies has never been an issue. Scott had a 3.7 grade point average at Pinellas Park High School and received his undergraduate degree in ethnic studies in December, only three years after arriving in Eugene.

Indeed, cracking the books meant far more than stuffing the run in the Scott household.

“My mom, dad and grandma all knew that at an early age I wanted to play football,” said Scott, who as a grad student is taking sports journalism and art classes. “They always told me to make sure I was doing my schoolwork because without school I would not be able to play. Plus, one day football would be over and I would still need to be able to provide for my family in a different way. I always took school seriously.”

Opposing offensive coordinators have been taking Scott seriously. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 325 pounds, the nose tackle is a big-time distraction and often double teamed.

He was in the middle of a run defense under coordinator Andy Avalos that last season allowed only 109 yards per game to rank 13th nationally and yielded only five touchdowns on the ground, second fewest (Georgia, two) in the country. Such defensive prowess was a big reason why the Ducks won the Pac-12, defeated Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and finished No. 5 in the coaches poll and No. 7 in the AP.

Scott, who in January opted to return for his senior season, became a starter early in his freshman season of 2017 under then-head coach Willie Taggart and then-defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt.

Taggart and Leavitt were the reasons why Scott chose to attend a school 3,100 miles away from home, though crossing the country was not his first choice.

Throughout his high school career it appeared that Scott would remain in the Sunshine State and attend Florida. However, about a month before his December 2016 graduation the likelihood of heading 150 miles north to Gainesville began to diminish as the Gators’ interest cooled.

Suddenly, Scott found himself needing a school in which he could enroll early. Oregon became his primary choice after Taggart left South Florida for Eugene in early December and a week later hired another former USF head coach, Leavitt, to be his defensive coordinator. Leavitt is from St. Petersburg and Scott has known him since early in his high school career.

“Everything played out perfectly where Taggart had just been hired and right after that he hired Leavitt,” recalled Scott. “Both of them called me and that was pretty much how it went for me to go to Oregon.”

Taggart left for Florida State after only one season and Leavitt joined him in Tallahassee following the 2018 season. Scott, who has 37 career starts, has continued to flourish under coach Mario Cristobal and Avalos. Now, the hope is to get back to Eugene before too long and ultimately focus on leading the defense in his final season.

“I want to become a better player, a better man and a better leader for my team,” said Scott. “I will be pretty excited to get back, whenever that is.”