Position Change Paying Off for 'Unselfish' Notre Dame Commit Jordan Pouncey

When Jordan Pouncey committed to Notre Dame during the Irish Invasion this summer, he committed as a wide receiver.

Since the commitment, Pouncey, a three-star prospect out of Winter Park (Fla.) has played several positions on his high school team, with most of his snaps coming at running back.

The change came when the Winter Park coaching staff realized they weren’t getting Pouncey the ball enough.

“The first game, we lost 27-26 and we come into the staff meeting Sunday and I look at the stat sheet and think ‘he only got the ball four flippin’ times? Something’s wrong with this picture,” said Winter Park offensive coordinator Kit Hill.

“So we come in on Monday and our quarterbacks coach says ‘Lets put him at running back,” Hill said. “That way he’ll touch the ball at least 10 or 12 times. He’s our best player, and he’s the best player on the field regardless of who we’re playing.”

The switch paid off in a hurry.

“The experiment worked well the first week out.” Hill said. “He touched the ball nine times for 160 some-odd yards and three touchdowns. Then the next week he follows that up with the 95-yard kickoff return, 40 yards in punt returns, another 140 yards rushing, and another 50 receiving.”

After playing receiver most of his career, and committing to Notre Dame as a receiver, Pouncey may have understandably been hesitant to switch positions as a senior in high school. Hill said Pouncey didn’t blink an eye.

“Jordan is unselfish,” Hill said. “He did not mind at all. He said ‘you need me to play running back, I’ll play running back.’ He wants what’s best for us as a team, and he’s been like that since the first day he walked in. I think that shows a lot on his part that he’s wanting to do whatever it takes for us to be successful as a team. He’s one of the kids that definitely gets that this a team sport and if I excel, it’s for the benefit of the team, not me. That’s one of the unique things about him.”

Something else Hill said stands out about Pouncey is his passion for the game. Hill has been a football coach since 1992, and said he’s never seen someone approach the game of football with amount of passion that Pouncey brings to the field on Friday nights.

“You see him on daily basis and see how he transforms from during-the-week learning and preparing, then all the sudden you get off the bus and see the competitiveness is his eyes, he can flip that switch and it’s remarkable,” Hill said.” I’ve been doing this since 1992. I haven’t seen a lot skill position kids that have that intensity level and the tenacity that he has. I’ve only seen it in one or two other people.”

Off the field, Hill said Pouncey approaches life the same way; with tenacity and passion.

Hill said that whenever someone asks him what kind of person Pouncey is off the field, he tells them all the same story.

Pouncey came into Hill’s classroom one day this summer, worried about how far from home his college career might take him.

“He said coach ‘I’ve never been out of Florida. I’ve been to Tennessee once,” Hill said. “So we wrote some places on my board and I said ‘what places do want to go see?.”

That night, the two of them hopped in Hill’s truck and drove through the night to the University of Alabama. From there, they traveled to Jacksonville, Fla. to meet with some coaches, Knoxville, Tenn. to see UT and Baton Rouge, La. for a look at LSU, all before catching a plane to Chicago and ending up in South Bend for Irish Invasion.

“5,201 miles is the number of miles I’ve traveled with kid,” Hill said. “You learn a lot about somebody in that amount of time, especially in the car. We all pretty much knew that he had a great amount of character. But you don’t really realize it until you get in the car with him and he’s the same person that you see at school. There’s no charade with him. What you see is what you get. I’ve never seen him without a smile on his face. He’s great guy top-to-bottom.”

On that trip to South Bend, Pouncey felt something he hadn’t felt during the previous visits. While they were taking separate tours of campus, Pouncey called Hill with some news.

He called me and said ‘I think I’m going to commit,” Hill said.

In that moment, Hill didn’t want to overstep his bounds, but he still wanted to offer some advice, player-to-coach.

“I said ‘I’m not going to tell you what to do, that’s not my job,” Hill said. “But first, call your mom. Then think about this for the next hour, two hours, two days, whatever. When you think of this place, and any other place pops into your mind, then you have some doubts and don’t need to do this. But if you’re thinking about this and comparing it to the places we’ve been and seen and you can legitimately say that those places are not even in competition with this, then do what you need to do.”

Not long after, Pouncey made his pledge to Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly.

Though he wouldn’t say it before, Hill later told Pouncey he made the right call.

“We were back at the hotel and I said here’s what I’ll tell you,” Hill said. “I was not going to say anything, but from what I’ve seen here, I think you’ve made a wise decision.”

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