Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1472993
A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 5 9 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M J unior college defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg likely didn't know it at the time, but when he opted to con- tinue his career at Penn State, he picked a school with a pretty good track record of developing players who grew up outside of the United States. Recent NFL retiree Jack Crawford may be the most notable example. After spending the first 15 years of his life in London, Crawford came to the U.S. as a high school sophomore in 2005 to pur- sue his basketball dreams. At the time, he had been playing for England's Under-16 hoops team. However, due to a transfer restric- tion, Crawford had to sit out his first year at St. Augustine in New Jersey. Barred from playing basketball, he gave football a try, which is how he eventually ended up at Penn State. Crawford just retired in May after 10 NFL seasons. Only time will tell if van den Berg, a 6-3, 295-pound redshirt freshman for the Nit- tany Lions, will end up following in Craw- ford's footsteps. But his story has some similarities in that he, too, came to the U.S. without much awareness of Ameri- can football. Growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa, van den Berg moved with his fam- ily to the United States when he was just 10 years old. Up until then, the only or- ganized sports he had played were cricket and rugby. That's not going to help you relate to kids in Atlanta, where the van den Berg family had settled down. However, there are similarities between rugby and football, so during his sophomore year at Providence Christian Academy, van den Berg decided to give the sport a try, succumbing to a bit of peer pressure from his friends. He started out as a wide receiver. "I was 5-10, 150 pounds," van den Berg recalled. "All I did was just run around out there. I didn't really understand the game." Those initial struggles didn't faze him. After adding some much-needed size in the offseason — he recently estimated that he gained about 2 inches in height while adding 40 pounds — van den Berg gave it another try as a junior. That growth spurt allowed him to switch positions, and he found a much more comfortable fit at linebacker. The game came more naturally to him as a defensive player. His responsibility on that side of the line was straightforward: find ball, get ball. Add in the opportunity to be physical, and linebacker was a per- fect fit for van den Berg. He ended up blossoming at the posi- tion, totaling 98 tackles and earning all- region honors. But that was nothing com- pared to his senior season. After adding another 3 inches in height, plus another 20 to 30 pounds, van den Berg totaled an eye-catching 157 tackles his final season at Providence Christian, including 14 tackles for loss and 4 sacks. It was one of the best defensive performances of any player in Georgia, a state that features some of the top talent in the country. The linebacker spot was a good fit for him in high school, but he weighed nearly 240 pounds by the time he graduated, and it was clear that he was soon going to out- grow the position. Because there was no film of van den Berg playing on the defen- sive line, he received little attention from college recruiters. Only one school was offering financial aid, and that was a Divi- sion III institution. He couldn't follow up on the opportunity because he didn't have the necessary SAT scores to get in. However, one of the best juco coaches in the country, Scott Strohmeier at Iowa Western Community College, was in- trigued by van den Berg's potential. "We got his film in an email from some- body, and we looked at it and saw this 6-3, 240-pound linebacker just running all over the place, hitting people," Strohm- eier said. Van den Berg arrived at Iowa West- DEFENSIVE LINEMEN INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY All but unknown coming out of high school, defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg is starting to make a name for himself at Penn State RYA N S N Y D E R | RYA N. S N Y D E R @ O N 3 . C O M Van den Berg saw action in four games in his first sea- son with the Nittany Lions. Among his 6 tackles were a sack and 2 tackles for loss. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL