Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Jordan Black Enjoying Farewell Tour F IRISH IN THE PROS BY WES MORGAN nity to walk away from their respective sports on their terms. Even fewer get a chance to do so af- ter the sport pushed them out before. Former Notre Dame ew professional ath- letes have an opportu- BLACK offensive lineman Jordan Black began his NFL ca- reer with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2003, was cut by Jacksonville following the 2010 season, didn't make it beyond training camp with New Orleans in 2011 and was coming to grips with the fact that the league no longer wanted him. Though his agent didn't file the paperwork, as far as Black was con- cerned, he was retired. He shed a lot of weight, slimming down to 266 pounds this past sum- mer — the lightest he had been since his junior year in high school back in Dallas. Then, after a year away from the game, the 32-year-old's phone rang. "I didn't think it was going to happen," he said. "You can get three rookies for the price it costs to get me. I didn't think any teams were go- ing to come after me, so I just made the decision to retire. "I told my agent to turn bench in all five games for the Redskins this year after starting 40 games in his career, which includes four seasons in Kansas City (2003-06), a year in Houston in 2007 and a three-year stint in Jack- sonville from 2008-10. "Football was the far- in the retirement papers and he never did. I guess my name was still on some lists. It was the first week in August [when Washington called]. I had my mind 100 percent made up that I wasn't going to play football. I told my agent, 'Hey, call them back and tell them how much I weigh, and if they're still serious about bringing me in, I'll con- sider it.' My agent told them I was about 275." The white lie got Black a tryout and he immedi- ately started packing on the pounds, climbing to his current weight of 285. He has appeared off the thest thing from my mind. I was hoping to end things on my own terms and that's not the way it [initially] worked out. I was real bitter about it. It's so hard sit- ting at home doing noth- ing when you've been a part of something so big like the NFL. There were so many things that I missed, like just sitting at my locker and put- ting tape on and putting my gloves on. I still re- ally wanted to play, but I didn't think it was going to happen. "I'm very pleased. Just having the opportunity to give it one more shot, see some action one last time and actually know that you are on your way out, I'm just happy to be here. Something I've never done before is walk out of the tunnel and look at the