Jordan Lynch
Jordan Lynch (born October 3, 1990) is a former American football quarterback and running back. After playing college football at Northern Illinois, where he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 2013,[1] and going undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, Lynch had stints with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League and Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.
Lynch at Bears training camp in 2014 | |
No. 6, 36, 5 | |
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Position: | Quarterback Running back |
Personal information | |
Born: | Chicago, Illinois | October 3, 1990
Career information | |
High school: | Chicago (IL) Mount Carmel |
College: | Northern Illinois |
Undrafted: | 2014 |
Career history | |
As player: | |
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* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
As coach: | |
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Career highlights and awards | |
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Lynch is currently the head football coach of Mount Carmel High School in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. He succeeded Frank Lenti, who was the coach of the program for 34 years.
High school career
After graduating from St. Christina Elementary School in the Mt. Greenwood area of Chicago, Lynch attended Chicago (IL) Mount Carmel and graduated in 2009. He played varsity for three years under coach Frank Lenti. He started two of those three years.
College career
At the beginning of his college career at NIU in DeKalb, IL Lynch was redshirted in 2009. He was the backup quarterback to Chandler Harnish in 2010 and 2011. During those two years he completed 19 of 26 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 608 yards on 76 carries with six touchdowns.
In 2012, he became NIU's starting quarterback.[2] During the 2012 marathon MAC Championship Game, Lynch increased his rushing stats to 1,771 yards on 271 carries, breaking the previous NCAA record for rushing yards in a season by a quarterback set by Denard Robinson.[3] He finished the season with 1,815 yards. Lynch finished 7th in Heisman Voting at the end of 2012,[4] and won the Vern Smith Leadership Award, which is awarded to the best player in the Mid-American Conference.
On October 19, 2013, Lynch broke the record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback in one game, finishing with 316 yards and three touchdowns, en route to winning the Walter Camp National Player of the Week.[5] On October 26 against Eastern Michigan, Lynch was responsible for six total touchdowns, throwing four, running for one, and catching a touchdown, gaining 339 total yards. On November 26, 2013, in Dekalb, Illinois, Lynch broke the single-game quarterback rushing yards record again, rushing for 321 yards versus the Western Michigan University Broncos. On December 9, 2013, Lynch was announced as a finalist for the 2013 Heisman Trophy.[6] He finished third in the voting that was announced on December 14, 2013. On December 17, Lynch was selected as a first team All-American.[7] He finished the season with 1,920 rushing yards, which broke his record from the previous season.
College statistics
Year | Team | Pass Attempts | Pass Completions | Completion % | Pass Yards | Pass TDs | INT | Rush Attempts | Rush Yards | Rush Avg | Rush TDs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Northern Illinois | 6 | 4 | 66.7% | 13 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 362 | 11.7 | 3 |
2011 | Northern Illinois | 20 | 15 | 75.0% | 166 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 246 | 5.5 | 3 |
2012 | Northern Illinois | 394 | 237 | 60.2% | 3,138 | 25 | 6 | 294 | 1,815 | 6.2 | 19 |
2013 | Northern Illinois | 404 | 253 | 62.6% | 2,892 | 24 | 8 | 292 | 1,920 | 6.6 | 23 |
College Totals | 824 | 509 | 61.3% | 6,209 | 51 | 14 | 662 | 4,343 | 6.6 | 48 |
NCAA records
- Second most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season: 1,920 (2013)
- Most 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback in a season: 12 (2012)
- Second most rushing yards per game by a quarterback in a season: 137.1 (2013)
Professional career
Chicago Bears
Lynch was eligible for the 2014 NFL Draft, but was not drafted. The Chicago Bears signed him to a contract as a running back shortly after the draft concluded.[8] The Bears released Lynch on August 29, 2014.[9]
Edmonton Eskimos
On January 14, 2015, Lynch signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.[10]
Lynch scored his first CFL touchdown against the Ottawa RedBlacks on Thursday, July 9. Lynch was part of the Eskimos team that won the 2015 Grey Cup, and scored the game-winning touchdown with 3:22 remaining in the game for the Eskimos.[11]
On March 8, 2017, Lynch announced his retirement from professional football.[12] The same day, the Northern Illinois University Athletic Department announced that Lynch had been hired as a running backs coach for the Huskies football program.[13]
Coaching career
Northern Illinois University
On March 8, 2017, NIU hired Lynch as the teams running backs coach. Lynch served under his former head coach Rod Carey, who was hired as NIU's head coach after Lynch's junior season.[14]
Mount Carmel High School
In December 2017, Mount Carmel High School in Chicago announced that Lynch would be returning to the school as the team's head coach.[15] He replaced Frank Lenti, who has been the head coach of the program for 34 years and won 11 state championships, in a move that received some shock and criticism from local media and fans.[16] In November 2019, Lynch led the Caravan to their 13th IHSA Football State Championship, defeating Nazareth Academy 37-13.[17] Lynch's younger brother Justin, the Caravan's quarterback, rushed for all five Mount Carmel touchdowns in the victory. [18] [19]
References
- "Northern Illinois QB Jordan Lynch among six finalists for Heisman Trophy". Peoria JournalStar. December 11, 2013.
Lynch was one of six finalists invited...
- Steve Nitz (August 30, 2012). "The Jordan Lynch era is off and running at NIU". www.suntimes.com. Sun-Times Media, LLC. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- "NIU PREVAILS IN DOUBLE OVERTIME FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MAC TITLE". niuhuskies.com. Northern Illinois University. November 30, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- "Heisman Trophy 2012: Voting results". www.sportingnews.com. SportingNews.com. December 8, 2012. Archived from the original on October 5, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- "Northern Illinois' Jordan Lynch and Florida State's Lamarcus Joyner are Walter Camp Players of the Week". www.waltercamp.org. Walter Camp Foundation. October 20, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- Tom Fornelli (December 9, 2013). "Six finalists announced for 2013 Heisman Trophy". www.cbssport.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- "Three repeat as AP All-Americans". www.espn.go.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. December 17, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- Adam J. Jahns (May 11, 2014). "Bears sign 9 undrafted rookie free agents, including RB Jordan Lynch, LB Christian Jones". www.suntimes.com. Sun-Times Media, LLC. Archived from the original on July 25, 2014. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
- "Bears release Lynch, four others". Archived from the original on 2014-08-31. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
- Jordan Lynch signs with CFL's Edmonton Eskimos
- http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14255918/edmonton-eskimos-win-grey-cup-beating-ottawa-redblacks-jordan-lynch-late-touchdown
- "Esks sign national Cory Greenwood". www.cfl.ca. CFL. March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
- "Esks Huskie Great Jordan Lynch Returns to NIU". NIUHuskies.com. Northern Illinois Athletics. March 8, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
- "Huskie Great Jordan Lynch Returns to NIU". Northern Illinois Huskies. March 8, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- "Lenti out as Mount Carmel head coach; Jordan Lynch will replace". WGN-TV. December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/highschoolsports/ct-sta-football-mount-carmel-frank-lenti-jordan-lynch-st-1231-20171229-story.html
- https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/12/1/20990533/mount-carmel-football-jordan-lynch-frank-lenti
- https://northernstar.info/22587/sports/former-huskies-quarterback-jordan-lynch-claims-first-state-title-as-head-coach/
- https://www.ihsa.org/data/fb/7AFinal.pdf