Cordova follows dad’s path

As he starts his final season as at Kinder High School, linebacker Jordan Cordova is focused on one thing: leading the Yellow Jackets to another state championship.

He knows he will have to take on a bigger leadership role to make it happen.

“The main goal is going to a state championship again, especially for our senior year,” Cordova said. “I have to be a better leader and better role model for the younger guys on the team.

“We have a lot of younger guys that will have to step up this season.”

Cordova has played in two state championship games, including a 35-20 win over Mangham in 2015 as a sophomore, but the Yellow Jackets lost in the quarterfinals last year.

He played safety before switching to linebacker in 2015 and said everything started to come together in the annual rivalry game against Welsh in Week 10.

“That’s when I put it all together,” Cordova said. “The district championship game against Welsh.

“I got player and I had a bunch of sacks.”

Since then, Cordova, who is listed at 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, has had two 100-plus tackle seasons and has been named to the 4-2A all-district first team, American Press All-Southwest Louisiana team and was twice an honorable mention on the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 2A all-state team.

“I like hitting,” Cordova said. “I am a more physical type.

“As a linebacker, you really have to know the game. My coach tells me all the time that I am the coach on the field. I already know what play is going to be called before he calls it.”

One area Cordova hopes to improve on is in pass coverage.

“It is always the little things that will make or break you,” Cordova said.

His duties will increase this year as he will also be called as a running back in the Yellow Jackets’ flex bone.

Cordova said football has been in his blood since he was born, and with good reason. His father, Wayne Cordova, was a star linebacker at McNeese State from 1996 to 1999. The elder Cordova helped lead the Cowboys to the 1997 Southland Conference Championship and the Division I-AA national championship game and is ranked 11th all-time in career tackles.

“I started playing football when I first could start walking,” Cordova said. “All of the college coaches tell me that I am faster than my dad. We both read the ball real fast, but I am just faster on my feet.”

Cordova attributes much his success on and off the field, he said he has a 3.6 grade point average, to the weekly film reviews sessions he has with his father.

“We always have film studies,” Cordova said. “I think that is why I am so smart on and off the field.”

Cordova said McNeese is one of five schools that has made him an offer. Rivals.com ranks him as a two-star prospect.

The Yellow Jackets tour a grueling schedule that includes four games against larger schools. Two of those reached the Class 3A semifinals in Kaplan and West Feliciana while Iowa, their Week 2 opponent, reached the 3A quarterfinals.

“I just want to prove everyone wrong,” Cordova said. “We are playing bigger schools and everyone thinks we are going to fold because we lost all of our seniors. I am really excited.

‘I think that we are about to shock a lot of people this season. We have a young offensive, but I think that they will step up to the challenge.”

Senior linebacker Jordan Cordova wants to help lead Kinder back to the Class 2A championship game. (American Press File Photo)