Justin Jordan rounds out basketball 2014 class

Untapped potential is probably the best way to describe the latest addition to Rob Jeter’s 2014 recruiting class for the Milwaukee Panthers. Justin Jordan, a 6’3″ 175 lb. point guard from Hargrave Military Academy, spent two years on junior varsity and a third on the bench as a backup and sixth man to Davidson Day High School’s starting five that won a state championship in 2012.

Cracking the starting lineup, Jordan didn’t catch the attention of college scouts in small town North Carolina, graduating from Davidson Day without major college scholarship offers. He has spent the 2013-14 school year at Hargrave, reclassified to the 2014 recruiting class, and started getting a bunch of attention.

Jordan has a lightning quick first step that is going to be needed as Milwaukee pushes forward following the graduation of lightning-in-a-bottle Jordan Aaron this summer. He plays the game smoothly and is a vocal leader, something the Panthers will need in the point guard position once Steve McWhorter graduates. Jordan is adept at running the fast break, finishes well and has a silky smooth jump shot.

Justin spent time training with former Charlotte Hornets all-star point guard Muggsy Bogues, and the Panthers expect him to back up McWhorter for one year before getting the keys to the car in 2015-16. Jordan was the defensive stopper for the state championship team in 2012, something the Panthers have missed on the perimeter since the departures of the trio Kaylon Williams, Ryan Allen and Paris Gulley, who were national leaders in three-point percentage defense.

Pulling in offers from Navy and a slew of Ivy League schools are indicative of Jordan’s academic prowess. Most recent reports have shown that Jordan had a 3.74 GPA after his junior year of high school and he scored 1600 on the SAT. That’s good news for Panthers fans who are taking grades seriously after this off-season’s developments.

Part of the reason that Jordan hasn’t pulled in the recruiting attention is because he grew late. In eighth grade, the young Jordan only stood 5’3″ and was not really a prospect. His father Larry is 5’8″ and mother Angela is 5’3″, so his height must have come from somewhere else in the family. He has an uncle, Michael, who you may have heard of that stands 6’6″. So some ancestor had to have had some height.

Jordan has had a long learning curve, which could play into the hands of Milwaukee perfectly. Without reaching his potential early, schools from up the totem pole weren’t interested in the young point guard, looking instead to teammate Jabari McGhee who ended up committing to Tennessee. Jordan came to Milwaukee because of his relationship with the coaching staff and the time they can afford for him to continue to learn.

True talent has been shown to slip through the cracks in North Carolina. Chris Paul, like Jordan, spent two years playing JV before getting to Varsity. Stephon Curry was not recruited by any program better than Davidson. Milwaukee may have found a diamond in the rough, and Justin Jordan may have found the perfect home for his basketball game to grow.

Justin Jordan on Youtube

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