Blue White Illustrated

J ordan van den Berg decided to bet on himself. In June, the juco defensive end became a late addition to Penn State's Class of 2021. But before he could think about playing for a Power Five program, he had to prove that he was a better prospect than anyone suspected com- ing out of high school. As a senior at Provi- dence Christian in Lil- burn, Ga., van den Berg knew he was capable of more than what he was being o*ered – the op- portunity to play at a few Division II and Division III schools. He wanted more for himself, so he de- cided to take another path, walking on at Iowa Western Community College, where he made the transition from linebacker to defensive end and transformed his out- look. "I came into Iowa Western right at the beginning of June, and I was able to prac- tice and learn the whole position from June all the way until April when we started our season, so I had a lot of time to learn," van den Berg said. Van den Berg needed to gain an under- standing of what it was like to have your hand in the dirt, rather than playing with the free-roaming license of a linebacker. He also needed to add weight, and the al- tered schedule necessitated by COVID-19 gave him the chance to do that. These days, van den Berg weighs about 290 pounds. "If he played right away in the fall as a freshman at 250 pounds, I'm not sure he would have had the success he had," Iowa Western coach Scott Strohmeier said. "But he got that fall under his belt before he played in the spring, which gave him an opportunity to learn the position." Clearly, that transition went well. He earned a scholarship at Iowa Western, and a6er playing in only 7ve games, to- taling 20 tackles and a sack, he received interest from a trio of Big Ten institu- tions: Iowa, Nebraska and Penn State. Van den Berg was recruited most heavily by Penn State Director of Football Oper- ations Michael Hazel. When he arrived in University Park for a visit in early June, he quickly came to believe that PSU was the place to be, committing to play his college football for James Franklin and his sta*. "The sta* was like a family to me," he said. "I really enjoyed that. Everyone was so interested in me as a person, not just a player. We had the whole coaching sta* take me out to dinner, and it was just me and my family and like 15 coaches. It was amazing." Van den Berg said he will make the tran- sition from defensive end to defensive tackle, his second positional change in two seasons. He's looking to add about 15 pounds in order to play that position ef- fectively, he said. For van den Berg, the game itself is rela- tively new. He lived in South Africa until around the age of 10, when he moved to the United States. While he had seen football in movies, that was the only understand- ing of the game he harbored. He spent a lot of his time playing rugby and cricket. Upon making his move, van den Berg didn't take up football right away. It wasn't until his sophomore year of high school in Georgia that he 7rst began playing. He craved the contact that came with the sport. For him, there's no reason to fear a hit. "In rugby, we play without pads," he said. "So when I got into American foot- ball, I was like, what do I have to fear if I played this sport basically without pads? "I don't really fear contact. That's my favorite part about football." ■ Juco DL joins Penn State's 2021 recruiting class | VAN DEN BERG I N T E R V I E W S C O T T S T R O H M E I E R I can't ever remember a player who goes that hard in practice or a game' ' P enn State picked up a surprise addi- tion to its Class of 2021 when defen- sive lineman Jordan van den Berg of Iowa Western Community College announced June 8 that he had ended his recruit- ment. Earlier in the week, van den Berg received o*ers from Nebraska and Iowa following visits with both Big Ten schools, but it was an o*er from Penn State that ultimately won out. Van den Berg played in only 7ve games at Iowa Western but put enough on 7lm to show that he was a true Power Five prospect. That he still has 7ve years in which to use his four seasons of eligibil- ity made it even more enticing for James Franklin and his coaching sta*. To 7nd out more about the newest Nittany Lion, Ryan Snyder caught up with his junior college head coach, Scott Strohmeier, to learn what fans can ex- pect from van den Berg. BWI What can you share about Jor- dan's background? I know he grew up in South Africa then moved to Atlanta. How did he end up at Iowa Western? STROHMEIER His family all lives in Georgia now, and they've been there for a while. I'm not exactly sure when he

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