Michigan State Football: What to expect from Drew Jordan in 2021

Four years ago, Drew Jordan was the crown jewel of Duke’s 2017 recruiting class. He was the top-ranked recruit in the class and the four-star defensive end was also listed as the 10th-best Duke signee of all time — no, that’s not a typo.

The former four-star top-200 recruit on 247Sports chose the Blue Devils over nearly two dozen other schools, including Michigan State as Ron Burton was one of his main recruiters.

Jordan decided to transfer this offseason from Duke after a productive four years with the Blue Devils, finishing with 99 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, and nine sacks in 40 games. This production has been overlooked by just about everyone because “he played for Duke” or “he only faced ACC teams” which is fair, but he deserves some respect.

Finishing with about 100 tackles and almost 10 sacks in his 40 career games is impressive and that’s more than any defensive end not named Jacub Panasiuk currently on the roster.

So what can we expect from Jordan in 2021?

Jordan has the tools to be a starter for Michigan State football

Panasiuk is going to be a starting defensive end and he has already set a goal to become the Big Ten’s sack leader in 2021. So can Jordan start on the other side? Many early predictions have Drew Beesley projected to start on the other side or even Michael Fletcher, but I would predict that Jordan’s experience and strength sets him apart.

If Michigan State’s defensive line wants to reach its maximum potential, I think Jordan needs to start along with Panasiuk and Beesley and Michael Fletcher make up the two-deep.

People don’t seem to realize just what kind of potential Jordan has, but he had 33 tackles and 3.5 sacks in 12 games last season, pushing his career-bests in each category. He’s capable of big things and with the right coaching, he can flourish.

I’m expecting big things from Jordan in 2021.