Catching up for former Penn State DB Jordan Miner

Jordan Miner had big dreams when he enrolled at Penn State in 2018. Part of a top-ranked recruiting class that produced three first-round NFL Draft picks, Miner came from Tampa to make a mark on the Nittany Lions secondary. His college career, however, never got off the ground. 

During a routine freshmen screening shortly after he arrived in Happy Valley, irregularities showed up in his heart screening. Further tests would reveal a genetic heart condition known as Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy, or ARVC for short. Doctors determined that Miner’s football career was over, and he was left over a thousand miles from home without the game he loved.

Miner then pivoted, however, and he was still able to become a key figure in the Nittany Lions football program. He was able to keep his full scholarship and graduated in 2022. Along the way he worked with the team as a student assistant and made the most of his Penn State experience.

We recently caught up with Miner to check in and to get his perspective of his last five years. 

BWI: First things first, how is life after Penn State?

Jordan Miner: I’m doing pretty good, now that my Penn State career is over. I’m just in the process of working like pretty much everybody else. So right now I’m doing healthcare recruiting. But I’m in the process of working to get my Master’s degree and hopefully become a sports agent, or discover any other possibilities within the sports realm.

BWI: We haven’t really talked much about your experience when you arrived at Penn State. Your career ended before it began, can you recall how that came together?

Jordan Miner: So basically, my senior year, we got to do the visits for like the Blue-White Game. I know everybody else did their screening there. But I was coming late and I arrived late to the Blue-White Game, I was at like my senior trip, so I had to fly from my senior trip to Penn State. So I didn’t do the necessary screening at the Blue-White Game, I had to wait until I got on campus to do the EKG screening. And then when I got on campus, it kept getting delays and pushbacks because my test results kept coming back weird and funky. So my start dates for like working out, I wasn’t cleared to work out yet because like my results kept pushing me back. They kept saying, yeah, we’re just waiting for results to come back. A lot of things showed up differently or showed up a little weird or a little funky based on those results. It was probably like a two-to-three-week span of having to keep getting my results pushed back. Then I had to do some more testing. They sent me to Hershey. And then that’s when they discovered a possibility, and then I had to go to a hospital in Hershey for about 10 days. That’s when they diagnosed me with the condition and then I was forced to retire from there.

BWI: To lose that without even getting to one practice had to be crushing, how did you deal with that?

Jordan Miner: It was definitely a hard experience. Growing up, literally that’s all I wanted to do. My whole life was playing sports and trying to make it professional. And so then with being diagnosed at the age of 17, going into college and being forced to retire, it was definitely a lot that happened at once. Seeing like all your friends and all your roommates getting drafted. Me and Jahan Dotson, we were roommates freshman year and seeing him going on to do great things. Other people in my class were doing great things. So it was definitely hard in terms of coping with it. But just in terms of handling the process, I feel like the coaching staff, coach [Terry] Smith, coach [James] Franklin, they did a great job with helping me be involved in any capacity that I wanted to. So if I didn’t want to do coaching, they were OK with that and tried to find different avenues for me. Just to feel comfortable for my time being there.

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BWI: What was your actual role with the team?

Jordan Miner: So just in terms of starting off, my first year, I was in that coaching realm. After that I  would describe it as a good resource for the players, especially working with the corner room. I was just like a resource in the corner room in terms of feedback, dealing with on-the-field tips, off-the-field tips, just things along those lines.

BWI: Did you think of getting into coaching after you left Penn State?

Jordan Miner: I know it was an option. In terms of coaching, I didn’t really feel like it was something that aligned well with what I’m looking for. Just the fact of being around the game, especially after what happened with me. No, sir. Having to be forced to retire, just being around the game was just too hard for me to coach right away.

BWI: How do you deal with that five years later?

Jordan Miner: I found a way to have more closure about the situation now. Obviously, it still sucks and I haven’t really been able to fully grasp my head around it, especially now that like pretty much everybody that was in my class is either getting ready to be in the NFL or gone to the NFL. Because I know in my class was Jahan, Micah [Parsons], Jayson [Oweh], Will Levis, Juice Scruggs, like all those guys and some others are in the NFL. Super happy for them, but I definitely felt like I could have been someone right alongside with them. So it hurts. Just in the fact that I never got to live out my dream, but I look at it like everything happens for a reason.

BWI: Did you try to find somewhere else that would clear you so that you could play?

Jordan Miner: So in terms of that, I would actually ask around and I asked for advice from people that were already out and would already know. It was more along the lines of if I’m not cleared to play at Penn State, I’m pretty sure no other school would allow me and clear me to play, especially with a heart condition. A couple of weeks before I got diagnosed, there was a condition that happened with somebody at Maryland who passed out and passed away at a workout. So I know, especially with the Big Ten, they were probably gonna be on edge. But I know I still got to be on scholarship at Penn State. So it was kind of like if I would leave to explore other options, no other school would put me on a full-ride scholarship if I can’t play at Penn State. 

BWI: How did the staff handle it and what were your thoughts on how they treated you throughout the process?

Jordan Miner: I feel like the staff handled it as best as they could. So it’s all of the recruiting me to come and play and then all of a sudden I can’t play due to a freak condition. Growing up, I would always be playing football, basketball, track; back the back. Never had any symptoms, nothing like that. So it was literally a freak thing that they found. So I turned to the staff. They were definitely surprised, but they cared they care more about like how I was feeling going through the situation. Coach Smith, he was probably like the best one to keep in contact with me. Just checking up and making sure that I was good and everything and checking up on my mental well-being.

BWI: You still have several connections at Penn State, but what can you say about your relationship with Johnny Dixon?

Jordan Miner: I knew Johnny going back to elementary school. So little league football, I’ve always knew of Johnny in the area. He was probably in like third or fourth grade and he actually played in the same organization as me, the New Tampa Wildcats. He was in the younger group, the grade division lower than me. We were supposed to be in the same grade, but I was ahead a year so he played on the team younger than me.

BWI: He told us that you were the first to reach out from Penn State when he went into the Portal at South Carolina. Do you remember those conversations?

Jordan Miner: He had talks about him going into the portal, and I knew based off of his talent, pretty much knowing him my whole life, I knew he would be a great addition to the team. So I reached out to coach Smith just to see his interest in him. Coach Smith had recruited him from high school as well. John was pretty close to coming to Penn State right out of high school, but ended up going to South Carolina. So when it was time for him to come on to the team. I had let him know and then it was kind of a no-brainer.

BWI: How much recruiting of him and selling of Penn State did you do with Johnny?

Jordan Miner: In terms of his pitch, I didn’t really have to do too much just because of the base of our relationship. I wouldn’t lead him down the wrong way. I wouldn’t tell him to come to a school if it wasn’t going to help him in terms of his goals first and foremost. Rather than Penn State’s goals, I care about Johnny more as a person than I do in terms of team success. So I knew it was gonna be an option for him to succeed and eventually be in a position where he can play, make plays and eventually go to the NFL. So I told him that position was there for him, the corner rooms is pretty wide open as long as you put your head down and work and everything goes will take care of itself.”

BWI: How close were you two when you overlapped on campus?

Jordan Miner: I talk to John before and after every game. When was there, we would go in the offseason or after practice, go into Holuba and put in some extra work. I’ve been along with John the whole way, especially his first year. It was his hardest year in terms of making that transition. I was always with John, he was my roommate, so I was always with him in terms of his growth. Going forward, I just see him growing in so many ways. I’ve always told John that he can take the game as far as he wants to take it. It’s all up to him, and seeing him lock in over the next couple of years, I told him the sky is the limit. We had a conversation a couple months ago, somewhere around the draft or the combine, that if he puts his head down for the next year, the rest of your life is going to change. I’m just proud of seeing where he’s coming from. 

BWI: He didn’t play a ton right off the bat, what was that first year like for him?

Jordan Miner: So you have to remember when he came in, the corner room was pretty open. I know Joey [Porter Jr.] had played before, but he wasn’t the Joey Porter that everybody knows now. I know Tariq Castro-Fields was a senior, had good experience, but the No. 2 and No. 3 corner spots was still pretty open. Coming from the SEC, coming from playing double-digit games at South Carolina, he was expecting to play a lot right away. It was just a lot of mental stuff and a lot of things that go on in terms of making that transition. There’s a lot that goes on when you transfer schools. So in terms of the year he was frustrated at times, like any competitor would be. At the end of the day, though, you know his time was going to come. 

BWI: What are you expecting from him this season?

Jordan Miner: I think we see his all-around growth. I think this season he’s going to really display how talented I know he is. I think he’s going to show the country in terms of his man-to-man coverage, his breaks, interceptions, pass deflections, run game support and blitzing — he’s going to show the whole package. There’s going to be a lot of attention on him, especially with Kalen [King] returning. There’s going to be a lot of attention on that other spot and he’s ready for it. 

BWI: You know this roster and this defense pretty well, what do you think of their potential in 2023?

Jordan Miner: I think the team’s looking good. I feel like, especially preseason on paper, this is probably one of the best teams that we’ve had in the last couple of years. I know like the 2017 team was good coming in, I feel like the 2018 Cotton Bowl year was good, But on paper, offense-wise, I feel like this is probably the best on paper we’ve been on offense in a while. With the defense and the secondary, I still know a lot of guys like Kalen, John is returning, Dae Dae [Hardy] is still gonna be back there. Jaylen Reed is going to be a key piece with Keaton [Ellis], and I feel like this is the time to show the world who they really are.