recruiting notebook

By Jeremy Crabtree

updated 1:43 a.m. ET May 14, 2009

Salt Lake City Cottonwood defensive tackle Jordan Afo has a number of different talents.

Dancing isn’t one of them.

This winter while dancing at a party at a friend’s house, Afo tried to impress his friends with a spontaneous move that included a back flip. The flip, flopped, leaving the 6-foot-4, 300-pounder in a situation that almost cost him his ability to walk.

“The ceiling was kind of short,” Afo said. “I didn’t think about it. I got to dancing, and I tried to flip. I kind of hesitated and landed on my neck.”

Immediately Afo knew something was wrong.

“I couldn’t feel from my waist down,” he said. “I could feel a little bit in my toes. I was thinking to myself, ‘I can walk, I can walk.’ I tried to roll over and crawl, but I couldn’t. My cousins lifted me up and put me on the couch. I think that’s when I felt something crack in my back. I couldn’t feel my legs at all.”

The ride to the hospital was something he’ll never forget.

“I said the most prayers that I ever have in my life on the ride over there,” Afo said. “I was laying there, and I couldn’t feel my legs. I knew something serious was wrong. It went through my head that I could never walk again and that my whole life would be forever changed.”

His prayers were answered after surgery to fix a broken vertebra in his back. The surgery went off without a hitch, and Afo said his doctors are shocked at how quickly he has recovered.

“It’s a blessing I’m walking,” Afo said. “The next day after the surgery, they put a brace on me and gave me a walker to use later on. But I started to use it right away. I was in the hospital for only a week, instead of a month like they thought. I think my training really helped. My legs and arms were strong enough to hold me up just in case I needed the support.

“Now I’m walking like there was never anything wrong. I have to wear a brace for another three weeks and hopefully that’s when it’ll come off.”

Throughout this process, colleges have continued to stick with the talented defensive lineman who ranks as the nation’s No. 24 defensive tackle and is a three-star prospect. BYU and Utah State have already extended scholarship offers and still have continued to pursue him hard, despite the injury.

“Honestly I didn’t know too much about BYU or Utah State, but I appreciated how they stuck with me through all of this,” Afo said. “I wasn’t big on college teams growing up, but I just knew the name BYU.  I was looking for something outside of football to consider.

“Football is fun and great, but it’s not always going to be there. So that’s what I came away most impressed with at BYU. When I went down there, I saw they had a good program, but football wasn’t the only thing they were selling me on. It was their faith. They talked to me a lot about being well-rounded and successful in all things in life.”

Afo, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will take his mission after his freshman season in college, admits BYU is a very serious option for him. However, he said hasn’t narrowed the list down at this point. He’s getting attention this spring from Washington, Utah, Cal, Kansas State, Oregon State, Wyoming and others.

“I honestly am leaning toward staying out West,” he said. “I don’t want to go across the entire United States. I want to stay on the West Coast. That’s why teams like BYU, Utah, Washington and Cal are interesting to me.

“But after what I went through, I’ve learned you have to stay humble and can’t get a big head. All of this can be taken away from you so quickly, so you have to be happy for every day because it’s a blessing.”

While he might have to prove to a few more schools that he’s 100 percent after the injury before he racks up more offers, Afo is excited about what his gridiron future holds. He’s going to work hard when he’s cleared medically in a few weeks to make the most of his second chance, and he’s promised his mother no more back flips.

“Just hand stands,” he said.

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