Oct. 9, 2007

by Louis Bonnette

James Jordan is the perfect fit for McNeese State.

He's a Cowboy. A real Cowboy.

On Saturday's he may be flattening an opponent on the football field from his offensive line position but around horses and cattle he's as gentle as they come.

"You've got to have patience with them," Jordan says of training horses, which he has done and which he plans to continue throughout his lifetime.

"It's a lot like coaching football players. You have to take the time and you have to have patience. Horses are one of the smartest animals. If you give a horse the opportunity to pick something up, it will pick it up quickly. But, you have to be consistent and accurate with your training. It has to be the same with the horse each day.

"Right now with my roping horse (name of BayBoy), I can go out with just a halter, riding bareback and the horse will do what I want it to do from the pressure of my legs."

It's the training of horses as well as the raising of cattle that the 6-5, 304 pound native of Eunice sees as a lifelong goal. He already has the name of his ranch - Double J Farms and Ranch L.L.C. - and has assured his brand, a front and backward J with a half moon covering it, and has acquired 35 acres.

That's his big picture.

On his radar now, though, he's continuing to work himself back into the Cowboy lineup as an offensive lineman and starter. He had a knee scoped during August camp and missed the season opener with Portland State.

"He's improving each week,"said Cowboy offensive line coach Reggie Nelson. "He played about half the snaps - at tackle and guard - last Saturday night and had his best performance.

"Having him in the starting lineup is ideal," said Nelson, "but with him being able to play left and right tackle and left and right guard, it's like replacing a starter with a starter when he goes into the game."

Jordan is anxious to get back to 100 percent on the playing field in the hopes of having the opportunity to continue his career on another level.

"He has the potential,"said Nelson, who spent several seasons in the NFL and in the Canadian pro football leagues.

In December the Cowboy offensive lineman will receive his degree in Agriculture Business from McNeese and the first part of January he will join the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a County Executive Director trainee in the Farm Service Agency in Louisiana.

"I worked the past summer with the FSA and they offered me this position when I graduated," Jordan said. "I didn't want to come out of college and not know which direction to go.

"I'm the first kid out of five and the baby who went straight to college because I got a football scholarship," he said. "My other brothers and sisters had to go to a community college in Eunice for two years before they could go elsewhere."

One sibling is a command chief in the Air Force, another is an attorney in New Orleans and a third is a registered nurse. The fourth was going to be a game warden before he passed away.

"A college education was one of the things that my mom and dad made sure we had."

Jordan, who picked up the nickname of "Peaches" when he was in the fifth grade (doesn't know where it came from he says), grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Eunice.

"We cut seven to eight acres of okra every day, we crawfished, we did everything we could in a positive way to make money," he said. "Until I got into high school we killed a pig and a cow every year for food."

He said he can't remember his first time on a horse because he began riding when he was a baby.

"We use to have these weekend trail rides, like a Mardi Gras but we did it every weekend."

That's where he made his first connection with horses.

"We had horses to ride but I can remember my Dad telling me that if I wanted a horse of my own, I had to buy it myself."

Throughout his high school days, he had an interest in rodeoing but because of football and his work at home, he had little time.

The interest has never left him and when he completes his football career he has plans of trying his luck at team roping.

"I bought a roping horse (BayBoy) last year and when I have time, I practice. I'm a header. I haven't started to compete, just practice. It takes months and months and a lot of work with the horse to just get ready to compete," he said.

In team roping, Jordan explained that the header has to rope the horns while the other team member - the heeler - has to rope the back legs. Then the cow is stretched out and time is called.

"I'm still in the practice stage," he said, adding that he even has Cowboy quarterback Mark Fontenot working with him.

Team roping on a competitive level is only part of the overall plans he has mapped out.

He begins a permanent job in January. Football at another level is a possibility and his new employer has said they will give him time off.

Rodeoing could be in the works.

And, then there's the horse training and the cattle ranch.

In another 30 years, he hopes to be one of the largest cattle producers in Eunice as well as a world recognized trainer of horses.