'07 OH CB/RB Jordan Mabin (Northwestern signee)

[Buckskin86]

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Nordonia (OH)
Macedonia



Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 185 pounds
40-yard dash: 4.42 seconds
GPA: 3.0

another big night this weekend

Jordan Mabin, Nordonia - Rushed for 223 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns, and caught three passes for 65 yards and a touchdown in a 39-27 win over Barberton.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plai...2743828440.xml

Fateful Knight
Nordonia's Jordan Mabin may be one of the state's rising sophomores, but a June car accident reinforced to him the precious nature of life and the importance of humility.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Tim Rogers
Plain Dealer Reporter
What happened remains a blur to Jordan Mabin, just bits and pieces of that night on June 23.

He tries to remember the exact circumstances, some kind of chronological order in which the events unfolded. He can't. It happened right before his eyes, yet he cannot remember everything. Details are sketchy, at best.

Mabin, the Nordonia Knights' gifted sophomore tailback, remembers sitting in the back seat of a teammate's car as they left a party. The teammate and his female friend were in the front seats. He remembers they were late. He knew it would be a reach to make it home to beat the 11 p.m. curfew imposed by his parents, and they drove along at speeds close to 90 mph.

"I guess that's why we were going so fast," said Mabin. "I know we were going fast, but I don't know how fast."

Much of what happened next does not register.

After hitting a curb and leaving the road at the intersection of Sheppard Road and E. Highland Road in Macedonia, the car soared 85 feet into some woods, just missing a telephone pole. The car plowed through some heavy underbrush before crashing into a tree stump; a couple of minutes later, it started on fire.

Miraculously, there were no fatalities. Mabin suffered a concussion and a bruised kidney and was kept the hospital overnight. The driver suffered a broken arm. Somehow, the girl walked away unharmed except for some bumps and bruises. All were wearing their seat belts. According to the police report, no alcohol was involved.

Two months later, the skid marks still are visible.

"People told me that we hit a curb and went airborne, but I don't remember that," Mabin said. "I guess it's because of the concussion. I remember the car catching on fire after we all got out. But I don't remember getting out.

"I know I could have been killed. We all could have been killed. . . . They said that if we would have hit that pole, we'd all be dead.

"We were just in a hurry to get home."

LESSON LEARNED

Don't dismiss Mabin as just another misguided teen. He speaks distinctly and directly. His conversations are dotted with, "Yes, sirs" and an occasional "Pardon me?" He comes across as a kid who is mature beyond his 15 years, a kid who seems to have most of it figured out.

Even so, Mabin and his parents, Howard and Debbie, had many long and frank discussions after the accident. "We talked about making the right choices and doing the right things," Jordan said. "I understood what they were talking about."

"He's still a teenager," Howard said, "and teenagers can have short memories, but I sense there was a lesson learned here. I see a difference in him.

"It makes you realize how fast it can all go away, how fast your life could change. . . Accidents happen, it's all part of life, but you have to make sure you don't put yourself in dangerous positions and take unnecessary risks."

The accident also had a profound effect on Knights coach Keith Boedicker.

"It is a devastating thing when you lose an athlete or a student," said Boedicker, who has twice gone through the agony of losing former players. "It slams things into perspective for you. It makes you realize how much love you have for all the kids who played for you. There isn't a week that goes by that I don't think about it."

Mabin said the accident only renewed his faith, not that he needed any help in that area. He is a devout Christian.

"I pray every day," he said. "Without God, I don't know where I'd be. He has helped me in a lot of ways, and not just in the accident. . . Not many kids get the opportunity to display their skills when they are freshmen."

FAB FRESHMAN

That, Mabin did. In 2003, he rushed for 1,067 yards as a freshman, even though Tom Stockle was the team's featured runner. In two games this season, Mabin has 424 yards and is emerging as one of the top sophomores in Ohio.

He realizes that his athletic ability, if used properly, will lead to bigger and better things. His father was a cornerback at the University of Louisville from 1979 through 1981 after being recruited out of high school in Pennsylvania. Mabin says his father's experience will be invaluable to him when it comes time to make his college choice.

"He tells me that he knows what I will be going through, because he went through it all," Mabin said. "He knows all there is about playing high school football and going on to college, because he did it. He is giving me a great advantage through his insight."

Mabin's running style can best be described as a glide. He patiently waits for holes to open. When they do, he has the acceleration and speed (he has run a 4.4 in the 40 and has covered 200 meters in 22.4) to blast through before they close. He has the athletic ability to juke would-be tacklers in the open field, and he has been blessed with hands as soft as Omar Vizquel's favorite glove.

"Jordan is bound and determined to make himself a Division I football player," Boedicker said. "You can see that he is very mature as a person and as a player."

Another quality that Boedicker loves about his prized back is his humility.

"Around here, he is just one of the guys," Boedicker said. "He wants to be one of the guys. He realizes that he is a member of a team. It would be easy for an athlete with his ability to become a prima donna. That won't happen."

"I have had a great upbringing," Mabin says proudly. "My parents have made sure I knew right from wrong. They taught me to be humble and that an education is important."

"We have taught all our children to treat other people the way they want to be treated," Harold said. "We have tried to impress upon them that they are not better than anyone else, and everyone's a friend until they prove otherwise. We believe in that as a family."

That's one thing that Mabin won't forget.

[akronbuck]

same school as buckeye o-liner rob sims.

5 10 180 soph with great stats every week

[wdg01]

Here is an article from last week. He played against my old highschool this week, and it sounded like he totally dominated the game with something like 160 yards in the first half. Hopefully i can get some pictures later.

Running back Mabin has Knights' backs
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Bob Migra
Plain Dealer Reporter

Nordonia's Jordan Mabin is no stranger to big plays and gaudy statistics.

But one of his most important contributions in the Knights' 39-27 non-league football victory over Barberton on Friday night did not show up in the final numbers.

Late in the third quarter, with the Knights clinging to an 18-13 lead, a pitchout by quarterback Jeff Pankratz went awry on a broken play. Two Barberton defenders were in position to pounce on the fumble near the 50-yard line with no Nordonia player nearby.

But Mabin, who was upfield blocking on the play, alertly backtracked and darted between the two Bar berton play ers to make the recovery. Minutes later, Pankratz scored on a 1-yard run to give the Knights some wiggle room that allowed them to survive a fourth-quarter shootout.

"He does a lot of things that obviously you don't coach," Nordonia coach Keith Boedicker said. "And the best thing is he's just a sophomore."

The Knights, ranked No. 6 in The Plain Dealer Top 25, improved to 5-0. Barberton slipped to 3-2.

The standing-room-only crowd in Nordonia's Boliantz Stadium was treated to an evening of offensive fireworks by both teams. Mabin accounted for most of Nordonia's big plays. The pass-and-catch combination of quarterback Garrett Banks and receiver Kieron Smith sparked the Magics.

Mabin finished with 223 yards rushing on 23 carries. He scored touchdowns on a 48-yard run, a 45-yard pass from Pankratz and a 50-yard run to seal the victory with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter.

"It was crazy," Mabin said. "They're just a real good football team. But when it came down to the fourth quarter I think we were in better condition and we did what we had to do at the end."

Banks, running a no-huddle offense throughout, completed 17 of 32 passes for 223 yards. He ran for two touchdowns, had two touchdown passes and was intercepted twice.

Smith caught 12 passes for 160 yards, with touchdown receptions of 9 and 20 yards.

"It was fun," Boedicker said. "It was just a great high school football game."

Barberton coach Jay Glaze said if it is possible to be happy after a loss, he was.

"They've won 27 of 29 games," Glaze said. "We had them on the ropes right up to the end. That's a huge step forward for our program."

Mabin left most of the members of Barberton's defense grasping at air on his 48-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. The 5-10, 180-pounder took the ball on a draw play midway through the second quarter. He made several cuts to break free down the left sideline, then faked out the final defender at the 7-yard line.

Barberton drew even, at 7, on the first play of the second quarter. Smith scored on a 9-yard pass on a fourth down-and-2 play, taking the pass at the line of scrimmage and beating the defensive back to the left corner of the end zone.

Banks completed five consecutive passes in the drive.

The Knights regained the lead on a safety when P.J. McDonald blocked a punt by Tom Karos, and the ball bounced out of the end zone. The play was set up when Nordonia's defense held the Magics to two yards on three carries after Barberton started at the 1-yard line. A 25-yard field goal by Cory Ramos gave the Knights a 12-7 lead at the half.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

bmigra@plaind.com, 800-767-2821


© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plai...4652195510.xml

[StoRMinBrutus]

Damn I love hearing this stuff. Is he a Buckeye Fan ?? Thanks for the info

[wdg01]

Nordonia won 49-14

[StoRMinBrutus]

I read on another site that he ran for 160 yards and 4 Td's in the 1st half . STill looking to confirm his stats for the whole game.

[Buckskin86]

wdg01- thanks for the pics

here is the game article from the ABJ

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjourna...ol/9818039.htm

Sophomore tailback Jordan Mabin ran for 162 yards on 13 attempts and scored four touchdowns to lead host Knights (6-0, 1-0) over Kenston (2-4, 0-1) 49-14.

[Buckskin86]

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjourna...ol/9866765.htm

Posted on Fri, Oct. 08, 2004
High school football
Nordonia back shows no signs of sophomore slump
Mabin piles up yards; Knights pile up victories
By Tom Gaffney
Beacon Journal staff writer

Nordonia tailback Jordan Mabin was a 1,000-yard rusher as a freshman in 2003, so conventional wisdom suggests that he repeat the feat this season.

However, few people could have reasonably expected him to reach that figure the way he did -- in just six games.

Knights coach Keith Boedicker, though, was firmly and happily in the minority.

``Nothing he does surprises me. He is a special talent,'' said Boedicker, whose unbeaten team has a Western Reserve Conference-North showdown tonight at Twinsburg. ``He has it all as a runner and he is very mature... the most mature sophomore I have had in 22 years of coaching.''

Mabin himself wasn't thinking of rushing for 1,000 yards in 2004. No, he preferred doubling his pleasure.

``Individually, my goal was to get 2,000 yards,'' said Mabin, who has 1,133 yards on 144 carries and has scored 15 touchdowns as the Knights have started 6-0. ``I thought I had a good chance to do it.''

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Mabin jumped from middle-school football to the varsity in the span of just one year in 2003. Despite being used sparingly early in the season and being a second offensive option to power back Tom Stockle, he ran for 1,067 yards to help the Knights finish 10-2 and reach the Division II regional semifinals.

``I really wanted to play varsity as a freshman,'' Mabin said. ``In two-a-days, I just tried to work as hard as I could to get on the depth chart.

``We had a great team and a great group of seniors who helped me out. The transition was easy because of that.''

Actually, Mabin felt part of the team in eighth grade in 2002 when Nordonia was making an unforeseen run to the state finals, where the Knights were beaten by Dayton Chaminade-Julienne, 41-26.

Boedicker allowed him on the sidelines and in the locker room for many of the games, including the state-title contest at Massillon, and he learned how things are done in the program.

``I saw what Nordonia football was all about... how intense the players were and how serious they were about winning,'' he said. ``I wanted to be part of that.''

Mabin's contributions as an underclassman should also come as no surprise because of his background. His father, Howard Mabin, was a cornerback at the University of Louisville after being highly recruited out of high school in western Pennsylvania.

Howard Mabin played at Louisville with Frank Minnifield, who was a cornerback for the Browns from 1984-92. Minnifield also had another more personal role with the Mabin family as Jordan's godfather.

``I have been around football all my life,'' said Mabin, who has run the 40 in 4.43 seconds and can bench press 315 pounds. ``This is what I love to do.''

Part of that love comes from taking a handoff and finding a way to weave through the defense.

``He has the best vision I have ever seen in a running back, the way he can anticipate tacklers and find openings,'' Boedicker said. ``He has an ability to accelerate and make cuts.''

Mabin is part of a young Nordonia club that is undefeated despite having only two starters back on offense and two on defense.

Senior quarterback Jeff Pankratz has thrown for 816 yards and eight touchdowns, primarily to Mark Douglas and Tim Cohn.

Chris Groth and brothers Joe and Kevin Kowalski have anchored the offensive line. On defense, Vernell Jones, Dave Roudybush, Mike Cooper, Dorian Holmes and Nick Rahal have been the top playmakers.

``We are a young team, but we make up for it with our team unity,'' Mabin said. ``Our goal is a state championship.''