Jordan James: 4-star Tennessee RB hits the hole hard on why UGA is his top school

Want to attack every day with the latest UGA football recruiting info? That’s what the Intel brings. This entry dishes on 4-star Tennessee RB Jordan James his story and how he feels about the Bulldogs. 

Jordan James is a 4-star RB in the 2022 cycle. He’s a momentum runner that probes holes and the slightest crease to gash defenses. That’s nothing new as he has carried a fitting “Mo-Mo” nickname since he started toting a football.

“One of my Pee Wee coaches gave me that,” James said. “It is because I used to mow people over so they just started calling me ‘Mo-Mo’ with that.”

Don’t get that twisted. He’s not a battering ram.

“My favorite thing to do is watching the holes develop,” James said. “I pride myself on my vision. I like watching the holes develop and then bursting through them.”

He had a big 2020 junior year. It includes 10 times where he cracked the 100-yard mark in his 13 games. James also excelled when given the chance to catch the football. He had a 90-yard reception which boosted his totals to eight catches for 180 yards.

That’s a gaudy 22.5 yards per catch average. It seems fitting to mention that James can house the football as a receiver, too. That’s part of the new Georgia model at the position.

If we’re being serious here, then running the rock well is a given for any back being recruited by Dell McGee. The key targets for UGA should all have this type of stat line as a primary ball carrier.

He can do a lot of things from mowing down defenders to making a guy miss in space. He also has the speed burst button to outrun angles from good safeties.

“Just whatever the team needs,” he said.

Check out his junior film below. He runs a lot bigger on film than the 195 pounds he carries on his 5-foot-10 frame might suggest.

DawgNation recruitniks may spot that he hails from the same Oakland High in the greater Murfreesboro region that sent former 5-star S Jacoby Stevens to LSU. That choice after a long courtship with UGA in the 2017 cycle.

There was a time when the Bulldogs clearly led for Stevens. That is also the case here with James. He hits the hole hard when it comes to his feelings about Georgia.

If the NCAA allowed visits this weekend, he knows which school he would see first.

“I would go to Georgia,” James said.

Why?

“They are at the top of my list as of now,” James said. “I feel like I owe it to them to visit them first since they have taken the time to build relationships with me and to get to know me.”

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Why Jordan James feels the way he does about Georgia

Georgia offered James back in May of 2020.

That, he says, was a very big deal.

“It was an honor, to say the least,” James told DawgNation. “Georgia is a great program. The Bulldogs are always dominant. They are always a top 5 program. It was just an honor.”

McGee is the lead recruiter.

“I like Dell McGee a lot,” James said. “I like how he develops running backs. You can look at his background. He develops great running backs. He makes running backs great. He gives them that extra extra push so I like that. He tells me I am a priority and lets me know I’m wanted. He lets me know I can do many different things and be successful at the University of Georgia.”

His recruiting has gained some “Mo-Mo” since his junior tape dropped. That has seen him pick up offers from Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Florida in January of 2021.

He has never been to Georgia. James said he has only been on pre-pandemic trips to Alabama and Tennessee. The Volunteers were his first offer. He said the new staff in Knoxville has continued to push the gas on his recruiting, if not accelerate that effort.

Jordan James established his top 4 schools back in late September of his junior season. (Jordan James/Instagram)/Dawgnation)

How the dead period affects Jordan James and his process

The six-week extension of the NCAA dead period will affect his recruitment. James said the news of that delay pretty much spoiled the day for him.

“Oh for sure,” he said last week. “Because I was looking forward to getting to some of those schools that I haven’t been to yet. Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma and schools like that.”

The Volunteers and the Sooners are recruiting him hard at this time. It sounds like Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennesee might be his new real-time Top 4. FSU is still in the picture here, too.

James has only visited Alabama and Tennessee up to this point, but that was never as a priority recruit in the current cycle. It is a totally different feeling to show up on campus as a recruit, even as a priority RB target, when your cycle is still not the current signing class.

What does this mean now to James? Hurry up and wait?

Jordan James said it was an “honor” to receive an offer from Georgia back in May of 2020. (Jordan James/Instagram)/Dawgnation)

“It doesn’t really mean that much because my commitment was probably going to be around the May area anyways,” he said. “But I just want to get on campus and see those schools.”

May was a ballpark estimation for his timeline. It was playing off the dead period lifting on April 15. That is no longer the case.

“It wasn’t necessarily May, but it was just a time frame after I could get to those schools and see them,” James said.

If there’s a top shelf of RB targets for Georgia in the 2022 cycle (and that is usually the case), he’d likely be on it. It will be interesting to monitor James and his movements during the early summer.

“I’m looking for a school that is going to prepare me for life after football,” James said. “Because everyone knows that football is eventually coming to an end one day for everybody. I’m looking for a school that is going to make me a better man and then a better football player at the same time.”

He is able to be an early enrollee, but he is not sure yet if he will opt to do so. James will also run the 100 and 200 meters this spring for the Oakland track team. He has a few track athletes in his extended family.

“Mo-Mo” is also not lacking for motivation. He brought up a sincere appreciation for his mother Toshiya Ward when describing his “why” on the field.

“First of all, I do it for myself because you’ve got to do it for yourself,” James said. “If you don’t do it for anybody else, it has to be for yourself. I also do it for my family. I feel like I owe it to my Mom. She’s put me in the position to be successful for my whole life. So I owe it to my family and my Mom to be successful in whatever I do. Not just football.”

“We should aim to be successful in everything we do in life. But with football, I am going to play football the hardest that I can and that will lead to the best of my ability.”

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