Meet Marion football player Jordyn Beverly
MARION, Ill. — Jordyn Beverly says the best advice he ever got as an athlete is to be patient. Beverly had to put that advice to the test in his senior football season.
Beverly is a senior and three-sport athlete at Marion High School.
“My personal goals were set back due to a foot injury I encountered in the first quarter of Week 5,” Beverly admits. “I had about 45 rushing yards and nine touchdowns through the first four games. I had much larger goals for myself.”
Those goals got sidetracked when Beverly got hurt early in the game against Cahokia. But the injury and the disappointment of a senior season that didn’t go as planned is serving to be motivation.
“I have failed these goals this season,” he said. “I will use that as a spark of light to fulfill my dreams of playing college football and maybe even getting drafted one day.”
Beverly has been a football player since he was in fifth grade. He also holds the school record in the discus as a Track and Field athlete, and is a member of the Marion High School wrestling team.
Admittedly, his first love is football, and he says he has learned a lot playing the game.
“I think my biggest challenge when playing football is keeping the right mindset,” he said. “Staying locked in during a game of four quarters is pretty tough when there are so many distractions going on around you. When you have the right people around you, I use that to keep me focused and keep myself from slowing down.”
Slowing down would go against what he said is the best advice he received from a coach.
“The best advice that I have heard from a coach is to play every play 100 miles an hour like it’s your last play,” he said.
When he’s not on the football field, in one of his other sports or in school, Beverly has plenty of things to keep him busy.
“I’m always trying to stay active,” he said. “I help out my parents with their catering company. We usually have a lot of events on the weekend. My dad, Kenneth, is always cooking or barbecuing. He makes ‘the best’ brisket and ribs in town!”
Jordyn says he helps his sister Alaysia and his mom Brandi make side dishes and prepare for events.
He also likes to hang out with his friends or go to the gym.
Beverly says being on a team has taught him to be a leader and how to understand the actual meaning of the word teamwork. He said the old cliche ‘Teamwork makes the dream work,’ is so true.
“If you are a great leader, people will follow.”
And, he says, he intends to be a leader by example in the spring.
“Be on the lookout for me this upcoming track season,” he said. “It’s going to be one for the books for sure!”
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