Jorden Edmonds wants to leave GOAT legacy at Sprayberry High School
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Jorden Edmonds didn’t list many individual goals for his senior season, but he did share the legacy he wants to leave at the end of his football career.
“I just want to be the best player to come out of Sprayberry and have the most impact,” Edmonds told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Edmonds is off to a great start after leading the Yellow Jackets to their best finish since 1982 last season, capped by a region championship. The 5-star cornerback also became the program’s first AJC Super 11 selection Thursday, adding to his pile of personal accomplishments.
But all Edmonds wants to talk about is what’s coming next for Sprayberry. Edmonds will start his final season when the Yellow Jackets visit Alexander at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 15.
“I would say really the players are starting to come more as a team,” Edmonds said. “I would say in past teams, we were kind of more separate.
“We were just so close as a team, and it’s something that I haven’t seen before.”
Edmonds, of course, played a leadership role in Sprayberry’s cohesion last year. But the Alabama commit doesn’t often lead with words, opting instead to impact with his actions.
“I would say about making plays, man, I’m not really a vocal leader,” Edmonds said. “I’m still working on that, but in terms of showing what I can do on the field, making plays, that kind of makes people want to follow and do the same stuff that I’m doing.”
Sprayberry coach Pete Fominaya agreed that Edmonds isn’t the most verbal leader, but he also shared a story that shows the power in Edmonds’ words.
Fominaya wanted to quickly build a relationship with Edmonds after taking the Sprayberry job in January. The new head coach heard Edmonds was working out at a nearby high school with some local players, so he drove up to visit and introduce himself.
Fominaya knew about Edmonds’ high-caliber athletic ability, but he hadn’t yet seen his ability to coach and encourage.
“What I was so impressed with was, he’d go against a kid as a defensive back, and the wide receiver would kind of struggle,” Fominaya said. “After the play, he would coach that kid up, and he would tell him, ‘Hey man, this is what you did wrong, this is what you can do better,’ and you know, I just saw him as a team player and as a young man that was bigger than just the game.”
Edmonds has seen a lot of individual growth in the past few years, much of which extends beyond the physical. His 6-foot-3, 175-pound frame is a force in the secondary, but Edmonds said some of his best development over the past three years has been mental and emotional.
Fominaya raved about Edmonds’ maturity as much as he did his physical feats. It’s especially impressive considering Edmonds plays cornerback, arguably one of the toughest positions on the field.
Mistakes are often amplified because of the isolated nature of the position, resulting in explosive plays that get entirely blamed on one player.
“As a mental thing, I would probably say learning that bad plays happen, and that you’ve got to come back from all the bad plays,” Edmonds said. “As a corner, even as a receiver, really bad plays are going to happen, and you’ve just got to come back from them. And then emotionally, I would say just after bad plays, how do you handle yourself?”
No doubt, Sprayberry’s defense is better off with players that respond to failure well. Combine that with the connection that Edmonds has helped build, and the Yellow Jackets could be poised for another historical season in 2025.
That seems to be the exact high school football legacy that Edmonds wants to leave.
But he also hopes to be remembered for the kind of loyalty he showed on a recent visit to the University of Georgia. Fominaya, Edmonds and Sprayberry teammate Kealan Jones were visiting on campus when UGA asked Edmonds and Jones to participate in a workout.
Fominaya told Jones, a UGA commit, that he didn’t really have a choice. He needed to work out for his top school if they wanted him to.
“But I told Jorden, I said, ‘You’re committed somewhere else, like you don’t owe these people anything,’ and his response was, ‘Kealan’s my friend. I’m not going to leave him alone, so I’ll do the workout,’” Fominaya said.
Leadership by action, in action.
“He had nothing to gain from going to work out for 45 minutes or an hour at the University of Georgia, but his commitment to his teammates and his commitment to his friends just said everything I needed to hear about the young man,” Fominaya said. “There were multiple high-level Division-I players at that organized workout who said, no, I’m not working out for one reason or another.”
“But, you know, Jorden didn’t hesitate.”
