Jordan Cole is a former captain and walk-on to Skidmore College men's basketball team. In high school at The Urban School, a small Division Five private school in San Francisco, he played two years of JV and was not a college prospect until late into his junior year. While in high school, he helped his team win a league championship. Jordan was a San Francisco City All-Star his senior year of high school, and despite not being heavily recruited, was able to walk-on to the Skidmore basketball team as a freshman. In his time there, his team had their best record in the program's history, won a Liberty League Conference title, and appeared in two NCAA DIII tournaments. His journey is one of adversity and hard work and shows that if you put in the time and effort, you will have success in college athletics.

1. As far as being recruited, what schools and divisions were you looking at?

In high school, I really hit my stride in terms of feeling like I was worthy of playing college basketball late in my career. I only went to one recruiting camp and got interest from a couple of schools: Whitman College and Grinnell College. I didn't know much about either of these schools, and I chose not to continue my recruitment with either of them. Throughout my high school career, I never even went on an official visit. Other than those schools, I had no other recruitment experiences.

2. What are the benefits of playing basketball for a DIII school?

There are so many benefits to playing basketball at a DIII school. For one, I got the opportunity to continue to play the sport I love competitively. I also got the opportunity to meet and become close with so many great teammates and coaches that I have been able to form lifelong connections with. Being on the team has also taught me the importance of finding balance in life through managing academics, social life, and sports. In my senior year, I was also able to excel as a leader and was named a team captain, which taught me a lot about leadership and camaraderie.

3. What red flags should recruits look for when they are communicating with a head coach?

I met with a DIII college head coach once and he was very blunt with me and seemed very shut off to the idea of getting to know me at all. He even went so far as to make his program seem like it was too good for me. I think that if a coach is not willing to talk to you openly and even get to know you, then that is not the right school to try to get recruited by.

4. What is the main thing high school athletes should do to prepare physically for college ball? Was it more mental or physical for you?

For me, it was more of the physical aspect. While I was always tall, knowledgeable about the game in high school, and had good grades, I wasn't able to get myself in good enough physical condition to exceed and show my best self until late in my high school career. My advice to a high school athlete would be if you want to be able to go to the college of your choice, put in the extra work. That doesn't just mean put up shots. It means to get in the weight room, run on the track or treadmill, or even play another sport to cross-train. All in all, make sure you are in the best shape possible so that your best self can shine through on the court or on the field.

5. So many young high school athletes do not know where to begin as far as being a walk-on. How did you start the process, and how and when did you reach out?

I started the process by reaching out to some of the players on the team, whom I met through mutual friends and asked if I could play pick up with them. I focused hard on playing as well as I could during those pickup games, and the captains on the team told the coach that they thought I was good and seemed like a good teammate. Coach Burke then reached out to me, and we set up a meeting and got to know each other. Typically, other walk-ons have to try out to make the team, but since I had gone the extra mile to get to know the players and the coach, Coach Burke let me come to the first day of practice without trying out, and the rest is history.

6. Do you feel that the team or coaches treated you differently because you were a walk-on? Did you have the same opportunities as far as playing time?

Absolutely not, my teammates have always been welcoming, and they helped me to pick up the program's culture very early on. Coach Burke never gave me less playing time because of my walk-on status, and by the time I was a senior, the underclassmen weren't even aware that I was a walk-on. As far as opportunities go, I had all the same opportunities as the recruited players, and I worked hard every day to earn my spot as a captain.

7. Do you feel as though you had to work harder than the athletes who were not a walk-on?

I feel like, even though I was never treated differently, there was always a chip on my shoulder. I always wanted to work harder than anyone else in the gym. That was not due to my status as a walk-on, but rather my personal drive to get better.

8. What is the best piece of advice that your college coach gave you?

Know your role and perfect it. My entire college career, I was a shooter, even though I'm 6'8″, which is tall for a shooter in DIII college basketball. During my first two years in college, I didn't get as much playing time as I wanted and was frustrated because I was unsure of my role on the team.

My coach told me that I needed to make 90% of the threes I took in practice if I wanted to get significant playing time. Even though I knew that my coach was trying to motivate me to get better, I took this literally. By the end of my junior year, I was barely missing threes in practice, and the coach finally felt like I had grown into my role and was ready to play significant minutes. I kept working at it, and in my senior year, I was able to shoot 40% from 3 on the year.

9. What advice can you give high school athletes as far as social media is concerned? Did you use it to contact coaches? Should high school athletes use it to contact coaches, and if so, how?  

Using social media for recruiting is a delicate balance. Even though I never personally used social media for recruiting, I know many people who have. My advice from what I have learned from my teammates and other college athletes I've known is to make sure you are accessible on social media and that all of your highlights are viewable on there, but do not go and DM your highlights to coaches you want to play for unless they explicitly told you to do so.

10. What is the craziest thing you saw a parent do at a game?

I once saw an opposing parent of a player go up to a fan and yell in their face for chirping their son. It was a packed gym too and one of the biggest games of the year, and during a free throw when the rest of the gym was silent, this parent was screaming in the face of one of our fans.

11. What is your go-to song before a big game?

Rise and Shine by J. Cole is my go-to. It always puts me in the right frame of mind, and I have such an association of focus and preparedness with it. I would listen to it before every game.

Image Credit: Skidmore Athletics