Oregon daily emerald., October 11, 1996, SPORTS EXTRA, Page 2B, Image 2

Soft-Spoken Leader
In his senior season, Reggie
Jordan is dealing with being one
of the few experienced players
on the Ducks’ defense
By Chris Hansen
Sports Reporter
Reggie Jordan is two-faced.
Normally, that isn’t something you would
want to say to a man who stands 6-foot-3,
weighs a muscular 262-pounds and spends
his Saturday afternoons trying to knock peo
ples’ heads off.
But in the case of Jordan, his Dr. Jekyll is
more prominent than his Mr. Hyde.
In person, Jordan, a starting outside line
“i backer for the Ducks, is
r
mild-mannered and so
soft spoken that at
times it is a strain just to
here him talk.
Until he gets on the
football field, that is.
“Reggie is one of
those guys who is kind
of quiet,” fellow out
side linebacker Derrick
JORDAN
Barnes said. “Then oc
casionally he’ll get fired
up and you’re like, 'Whoa, where is this
coming from?”’
Jordan said it comes from a sense of sur
vival.
“When you’re out on the field you have to
look at it like ‘This guy wants to knock you
out,”’ he said. “And I go against a lot of big
guys who like to talk a lot of trash. That just
gets me fired up, and 1 want to hit some
body.”
And when he gets fired up, Jordan makes
plays. He is first on the team and in the Pa
cific-10 Conference in tackles for a loss with
14. His three sacks on the year give him a ca
reer total of 17, fourth on Oregon’s all-time
list.
“He just gets things done,” Barnes said.
“He is someone that we come to count on
when we really need something. He is a
tremendous player.”
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti agreed.
“Reggie is a big-play guy,” he said. “He
has a lot of athletic ability and potential, and
he is utilizing more and more of that every
day in my opinion.”
“When he is playing up to his level,”
Barnes added, “there is nothing he can’t do
out there.”
If there has ever been a time when the
Ducks need Jordan’s play making ability, it is
now. While Oregon has suffered through
three-consecutive Pac-10 losses, Jordan has
Turn to JORDAN, Page 6B
ANDREW BRACKENSICK/Emerald
lit
When you’re out
on the field you
have to look at it
like ‘This guy
wants to knock you
out.’ And I go
against a lot of big
guys who like to
talk a lot of trash.
That just gets me
fired up, and I
want to hit
somebody.
— Reggie Jordan
UO outside linebacker
-53
Outside linebacker
Reggie Jordan
stands as an impos
ing force to oppos
ing teams. But on
his own team, Jor
dan’s mild manner
and emotional play
makes him an easy
leader and role
model to a young
defensive unit.
---—---:__
COURTESY PHOTO
Former North Eugene High School star Kailee Wong will have a little
extra motivation this Saturday when his Stanford Cardinal line up
against the team he grew up watching.
2B Oregon Daily Emerald - Oregon Football Friday. October 11,1996
Ducks face former Eugene standout
■ STANFORD: Kailee Wong played for North
Eugene High School before becoming a Cardinal
By Todd Bernstein
and Ryan Frank
The Stanford Daily
and the Oregon Daily Emerald
Two years ago, Cardinal defensive lineman Kailee
Wong watched as his hometown team, the Oregon
Ducks, marched into the Rose Bowl as the Pacific-10
Conference representative.
While it would have been easy for the North Eugene
High School star to regret his decision to attend Stan
ford instead of Oregon, the 6-foot-3, 260-pound defen
sive end focused on the positives at Stanford and has
blossomed into one of the premier defensive lineman in
the Pac-10.
“You would definitely like to be on the team that is
going to the Rose Bowl,” Wong said. “I just had to take it
in stride and look at the positives that were here for me.”
Wong was recruited by Stanford as a linebacker, one of
the positions he played in high school. While gamering
many national defensive honors his senior year, Wong
was also named the state Co-Offensive Player of the Year.
“He was a man among boys at the time,” North Eu
gene head football coach Mike Jodin said. “He was a
great player, he had a great attitude, worked hard and
was probably one of the better athletes I have ever
coached.”
The problem Stanford faced was luring him away
from the Ducks, who had been recruiting Wong early in
his high school career.
“I was recruited in my sophomore year, so it started
pretty early for me,” Wong said. “It wasn’t that tough a
decision, though. It’s not like I didn’t like Oregon. I just
needed to get out of Oregon and ex
penence something else.”
Wong started seven games as a
freshman, recording 23 tackles and
one quarterback sack. Each year,
Wong has improved and is now
thought of as not only one of the
most improved players in the con
ference, but one of the best.
"He is a good player, works real
hard and hustles. Definitely one of
WONG
the better ends in the Pac-10,” Ore
gon offensive guard and South Eu
gene graduate Bob Baldwin said.
Last year, Wong added 39 total tackles and one sack.
This season, he has taken his play to a higher level,
amassing 24 tackles and five sacks in his first four games.
Cardinal head coach Tyrone Willingham is pleased
with Wong’s early season success.
“We’re very happy with the play of Kailee Wong and
his emergence into an excellent defensive lineman,”
Willingham said. 'He is one of the top 10 players in the
conference in sacks and a really explosive-type player.”
Wong thinks that confidence is something that has
propelled him to the top ranks of the Pac-10.
I just think I finally have more confidence in my abil