UNC recruiting: 4-star commit Jordyn Adams impresses for Green Hope High School

Friday night Sanderson High School faced off against Green Hope High School in Cary, NC. Sanderson managed to erase a 14-point halftime deficit and finished the game off with a go-ahead touchdown and two-point conversion with 2:56 minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Of course, this is just a minor detail in what was the highlight of the night: getting to see UNC commit Jordyn Adams in action.

For those who do not know: Adams is a senior in his first year at Green Hope High School. He is the son of Deke Adams, the defensive line coach for UNC. The 6’3” receiver made his commitment back in July at The Opening and will be a dual-sport athlete playing both football and baseball. Adams chose UNC over Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, and LSU. He has been listed as a 4 and a 5 star by various sources but once thing is consistent: he is good. He is really good.

Jordyn Adams The Wide Receiver

The first thing that stood out about Jordyn Adams during the game against Sanderson was his ability to run after the catch. One of his first plays of the night came on a curl route, and instead of the play ending after the catch he spun off the defender and proceeded to take the ball a good 20-30 yards down the field. It was easy to get the feeling he was a man amongst boys at times, especially when he stiff-armed a defender so hard that the contact could practically be heard in the stands.

Another thing that was impressive about Adams was his route-running ability. His routes mostly looked very crisp, including one play where he made a double move and blew past a defender before the errant throw to Adams was picked off by the safety. Sanderson played a lot of zone against the Falcons, but when Adams was facing man-to-man coverage he had no issues executing. He was easily stronger than anybody on their secondary and much more impressive than that: he was the fastest on the field.

What stood out perhaps the most that night (when he was on offense) was just how fast Adams is. Whenever he had the ball and had any kind of daylight, he was gone in the blink of an eye. There were at least two occasions when seeing him take off was like watching Marshawn Lynch shake off and blow past every single defender on the New Orleans Saints some years back. Is this what you should expect from a standout recruit playing a high school team that more than likely had no D1 talent? Maybe, but it’s hard to find anything to the contrary looking back at any workouts he did during his recruiting. The kid is just fast.

Jordyn Adams finished the night with 8 catches for 149 yards.

Jordyn Adams The Athlete

As mentioned earlier, Jordyn Adams will be playing football and baseball for UNC. He is also a gifted basketball player, and if you haven’t seen the video of him dunking on a defender you are in for a treat.

Focusing back in on football, Adams previously played as a quarterback but he decided to focus on playing wide receiver when he transferred to Green Hope. He is also the punt and kick returner for their special teams, and it was evident that Sanderson did not want him to have the ball during kickoffs as they usually squib kicked or they kicked to the other returner in the backfield.

Believe it or not though, this wasn’t his only role on special teams: Jordyn Adams was the team’s punt kicker.

It was a moment that was cause for a double-take, seeing No.2 in the backfield awaiting the snap to punt the ball off. The first time it happened it seemed like it might be a fake punt: it was not a fake punt. It was real, and it was a really good punt. Not only did he get good hang time on the ball, but the ball landed in between the one yard line and the goal line before taking an unfortunate bounce into the end zone. Eventually Adams was used on a fake punt, and managed to run the ball 25 yards for a first down.

Perhaps the best example of how well he can kick the ball is when Green Hope got backed up to the one yard line due to penalties and had to punt the ball. Adams kicked the ball off of a bad snap 50 yards from the back of the end-zone. His athletic ability is incredible, and one can only imagine how Larry Fedora decides to use him when he gets to UNC.

The biggest takeaway from watching Adams play Friday night is that he is a pure gamer. While it’s a term that is thrown around a lot, a kid with so much obvious talent deserves it. He has a really high ceiling based off of athleticism alone, and in a Larry Fedora offense he’ll have plenty of chances to make a name for himself.

To see highlights from Friday’s game, be sure to check out the THB Facebook page!