Student athletes are often seen as some of the hardest working ones in a room, especially if they feel they have something to prove, like Pine Ridge High School senior Jordan Buchanan. After what could have been the end of the road for him in football, he turned it into an opportunity.

“Summer going into my junior year was probably one of the hardest times I’ve faced in my life,” Buchanan said after he broke his arm during tackle drills at spring practice. “Doctors told me that a couple of days later that I was most likely going to miss my entire junior season, if not, more than that.”

At the time, Jordan had only played four games his sophomore year because of the pandemic and was looking forward to playing his Junior year, but wound up sitting out the whole season.

“I did what I could for my team, I’d be at practice, cheer them on the field, I was there in whatever way I could be,” he said.

It was that push, that responsibility of being a team leader that not only showed the team who he was, but to himself.

“Seeing that those guys looked up to me, even when I wasn’t on the team, that motivated me a lot because it showed me how much they cared for me and that they relied on me and I needed to do everything I could for them,” he said.

Since being a part of the team, there have been five coaches in total for Pine Ridge football, giving him a leader mentality.

“I had to really rely on myself, because a lot of the time I didn’t have a coach, a lot of it was pushing myself and teaching myself what to do,” he said. “Especially during my year off I really had to remind myself of all the hard work I had done years prior and one year in the grand scheme of things wasn’t so bad, but I had to work even harder.”

Jordan says the minute he was cleared to play, he went to work. Drills, the weight room, you name it.

“I really self-assessed myself and knew what I needed to work on having a successful senior year,” he said.

Jordan led the team in tackles on offense and was the second leading receiver as a tight end. While he balled out his senior year, Buchanan has been a stellar student, with a 4.26 GPA. He had multiple scholarship offers, but the young man loves to work and challenge himself.

“I’m going to be a walk on at UCF,” he said.

While it can seem scary, Buchanan says he’s a person that never gives up nor backs down from a challenge.

“With all that I’ve been through, I can get through anything, since I broke my arm, it’s only been up,” he said. “I know the expectations I’m going to have to meet going into that and I’m not nervous about it, I’m just ready for it."