NATCHEZ — Former Cathedral lineman Tyler Jordan will continue his football career at Southeastern Louisiana University.

Jordan accepted an offer to be a preferred walk-on with the Lions and he plans on taking a redshirt his freshman year to put approximately 20 more pounds on his 6-foot-5-inch, 275-pound frame, he said.

“I wanted to go and try to play at the highest level I could,” Jordan said. “Southeastern Louisiana is a division one school that offered me a spot, and obviously I wanted to take it.”

“It’s like I’m a scholarship player without the scholarship. I have a spot on the team. Once I’m physically ready to contribute I’ll get a scholarship. I’m playing offensive line, and they wanted me to gain weight.”

He said he was very happy when SLU offered him a chance to play.

“It was a really big deal to me,” he said. “I wanted to play division one football, and no opportunities showed up. When they called it was super exciting knowing I’d get to keep playing football, and keep it as a part of my life. I’ve been playing since sixth grade.”

Jordan said he feels that the redshirt year would be a benefit.

“I am happy with it, I feel like I need another year to get bigger and stronger and get physically ready to play,” he said.

Cathedral coach Ron Rushing said Jordan’s size is something that sets him apart from other players, but he has the intangibles that make him a good player as well.

“He is very coachable, and was a leader on our team. He led by example and was also a verbal leader,” Rushing said.

Rushing said Jordan is a hard worker who is intelligent on and off the field.

Jordan looked at several other options before choosing SLU to play his college ball, he said. Schools like Millsaps, Mississippi College and Ouachita Baptist in Arkansas also showed interest.

“I like (SLU) a lot,” Jordan said. “They run the spread, which is what we ran at Cathedral. I like the coaches. They were nice and they shoot you straight, and don’t try to make everything sound good just to get you there.”

Jordan likes that SLU is a bigger school and likes the opportunities he will receive academically, he said. He plans on studying biological science as a pre-med student.

“Academics is the most important thing to me, because even if I get lucky enough to make it to the pros for a little while, I know it won’t last forever,” he said.

He said he wants to be a doctor after his playing career is done.

Jordan played both offensive and defensive line at Cathedral, focusing primarily on the defensive side of the ball his senior year. He does not believe he will have trouble moving back to offense though, he said.

“(Moving back to offense) is not a big deal to me,” Jordan said. “I ended up playing a lot of offensive this year, especially in practice. I was always the guy that moved in when guys came in and out, and I played left guard in the last playoff game.”

Jordan said he plans to spend his summer getting stronger and faster and working on his conditioning. Two-a-day practices begin Aug. 2.