2020 NFL Draft Prospect Interview: Jordan Reyes, OL, Dean College

• Name: Jordan Reyes 
• Height: 6’0
• Weight:325
• Position: Center/Guard 
• College: Dean College 
• Twitter: @jordanreyes57

Tell us about your hometown, and what you love most about it?

• I am from Boston Ma, more specifically West Roxbury. I love our sports teams were called the “City of Champions” I love the people, food and the weather. I am huge fan of the cold, and it gets cold in Boston! If I had to choose one thing that I love the most about Boston, it would be the winning culture, and not settling for anything less!

List these three in order of importance and why: Film Study, Strength and Conditioning and Practice?

• I believe that practice comes first because it is where we go to perfect our craft and grind day in and day out, practice is where we compete and get to play the game that we love. Up next I am going with film study. I have this at #2 because here is where go to see what we did right and what we did wrong. This allows us to take notes on ourselves and our opponents to see what both parties are doing, weather it is good or bad. And finally, Strength and conditioning, to me football is more like a game of chess, it is more mental than physical if you break it down. It comes down to knowing your assignments and how to execute your job. Now being strong, fast, quick etc.… is also a part of the game because everyone needs to compete.   

What do you worry about, and why?

• I worry about making my family proud. I say this because I am family first type of person, I strive to make them proud and to be successful so that I can hopefully repay my family for the wonderful life they have given me and to make sure their sacrifices they’ve made don’t go to waste. My biggest worry is letting my family down.  

Give me an example of when you failed at something. How did you react and how did you overcome failure?

• I remember when I was about 10 years old I was playing the elite 4 in Pokémon emerald and I could not beat the 2^nd of the 4 no matter how much I tried changing up my line up. So, I had to leave the Elite 4 with about 6 loses under my belt and go back to victory road and train my Pokémon for 3 days to level them up, after those 3 days I went back and swept the Elite 4 and beat the champion.    

What do your teammates say is your best quality?

• My teammates would say my best quality is leadership. “Jordan as a senior and veteran for the team had to step in and be a true leader, to lead a young Offensive line with him being the only senior starting. His Oline looked up to him for any questions and tips or whenever they needed help with, on and off the field he was there to help. He helped our entire OLine go all-conference and bring home the conference title”. Along with that my teammates also said composure and attention to detail was one of my best qualities. 

Who is the best player you have ever played against in college?

• The best played have played against in college would have to be #94 Jemel Daniels from Kean State University. He was strong, fast, quick hands and had a good spin move. He would win a hand fights and get good position on me from time to time during the game. He also had a good get off with good speed to power off the ball. Overall, he was the best nose tackles I haveplayed in college. Much respect. 

What would your career be if you couldn’t play football? 

• If I couldn’t play football I would be a small business owner, I would open my own auto shop that specialized in modifying cars into race cars and show cars, along with a shop attached that sold racing parts and accessories. 

Room, desk and car – which do you clean first?

• I would clean my car first because that is visual representation of who you are, it shows if you care about the things in life in my opinion. Secondly, I would clean my room because I personally don’t like things everywhere and I like my living space clean. Lastly my desk because I normally do not use my desk to work I usually just use it for storage. 

If there was a disaster and you could either save three strangers or one family member, which would you choose and why?

• This is very tough question. I am a family first type of person so in my head I would love to save my family member but I would have to go with the strangers because my family members are not selfish they would want me to save the strangers because it is the right thing to do. 

If you could be any television or movie character, who would you be and why?

• I would be Itachi from the anime show Naruto. I would choose him because he is incredibly intelligent, strong, and task orientated. In the show, he was ordered to kill his entire clan to “save” his village, but he spared his younger brothers life and became rouge ninja on a secret mission to protect his village from a terrorist group while protecting his little brother from the outside looking in.    

Tell me about your biggest adversity in life and how you’ve dealt with or overcome it?

• My biggest adversity in life was when had to transition from high school to college. I was scared and did not know what to do or expect. I went into football camp scared of what was in front of me, I didn’t know anyone, I just knew I could not give up because this was last chance at going to school and playing football because I had barely graduated high school and I had just barely gotten into college. So, I had to overcome It by keeping my faith in God and I knew I just could not give up because I had too much to lose. So, I kept my head up and battled through it and stuck it out even when I wanted to quit. I kept on moving forward and now I will be graduating in May with my bachelors in Business Management.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

• My most embarrassing moment was when I was a kid, I was at the bank with my mother and my siblings and I was eating a lollipop. As I was eating the lollipop I was running around with it and my mother told to stop running because I was going to hurt myself and seconds later I tripped and fell and the lollipop stick split my face open and I had to get rushed to the hospital to get 21 stiches on my face and now I have a scar between my eyebrows. 

What was the most memorable play of your collegiate career?

• My most memorable play of my collegiate career would have to be my first college snap my freshman year against Hudson Valley Community College. I had entered the game on PAT at left guard. As I lined up HVCC lined 2 tackles and a linebacker in my gap and they sent the house on me and ran through me and blocked the PAT. Till this day I can’t believe it happened but now I laugh about it because I have grown so much since then. 

What song best describes your work ethic?

• Finally Rich – Chief Keef

What is the most important trait you can have (Physical or Non-Physical) to help you succeed at the next level? 

• Flexibility would be the most important trait to have in my opinion because being flexible is everything it goes both ways in terms of physical and non-physical because you need to be able to change on the fly mentally, when it comes to learning and game situations being able to roll with the punches. Physically being flexible helps a lot when it comes to moving around fast and being where you need to be. 

If you could bring one person back from the dead for one day, who would it be and why?

• If I could bring back one person from the dead for a day it would be one of my high school coach’s, George Murray because he had taught me how to play the game of football. Unfortunately, he was never able to see me play football at the college level, so I would love to bring him back to show him what I’ve become as not only as an athlete but as a young manthat I’ve become and so he could see all the accomplishment’sI’ve had, it would make him proud. 

If you were to open a dance club, what would you name it? 

• If I were open a dance club I would name it, 2 Step. Because the 2 step is easy to learn and it’s a go to move if you don’tknow what you’re doing and its fun when you get in rhythm. 

Who is the most underrated player in the NFL? 

• In my opinion I believe the most underrated player in the NFL is Mitchell Schwartz Right Tackle for the Chiefs. The man is a great pass blocker who’s never missed a game but he barley gets any credit. I believe he’s one of the best offensive Linemen in the NFL.

Would you rather be liked or respected, and why?

• I would rather be respected because in my opinion being respected is earned not given and if you earn someone’s respect it does not matter whether they like you or not. 

What player who had his career derailed by off-field issues do you feel for the most and why?

• I would have to say the Honey Badger because he had atrouble past and faced a lot of adversity and had to fight for everything he has because his name and reputation had dirt thrown on it but he found a way to push through it and now he is a Super Bowl Champion. 

Do you love to win, or hate to lose?

• I hate to lose. I hate losing because in my opinion I did not work hard enough to help my team win or be successful because I have always been looked at as a leader or a role model to my teammates. But in a sense losing is a humbling experience and it teaches you that you can’t win every battle but you can still win the war. 

Who has been the biggest influence on your life and explain why?

• My Parents have the biggest influence on my life because when they were 18 and 17 years of age the immigrated illegally from Guatemala with nothing but each other and the cloths on their backs. They are the true definitions of hard workers. They have overcome so many obstacles in life from sharing a 2-bedroom apartment in Boston with 14 people to having their own beautiful home and now are proud American Citizens. It goes to show with hard work and determination that anything can be achieved if you want it bad enough. So, my parents are my biggest influences in my life.