Harold takes unusual path to possible playing time

Jordan Harold's journey to Columbia has taken a few unexpected detours. From McLuer North High School in Florissant to Northwest Missouri in Maryville, with a stop-over in Kuwait. In-person cold calls and a pair of red Timberland boots eventually led him to the Missouri football team.

Let's start at the strangest stop.

After his redshirt year at Northwest Missouri State, Harold was named to the 2014 U.S. Under-19 National Team, which competed in that summer's International Federation of American Football's World Championship in Kuwait City.

Harold, listed on the roster as a 6-2, 245-pound defensive end, was also one of three captains for the team. They would go 3-0 in the group stage, and beat Canada 40-17 in the final.

"We had a lot of fun," Harold said. "We had a lot of bonding time, especially going over there, not knowing nobody or anything. We were learning stuff together. It was during their holy month, Ramadan, so we couldn't do certain things. Go out, can't eat during the day time. It was crazy."

That fall, Harold appeared in two games, making one tackle, as the Bearcats won the the D-II national championship. Harold said while he loved his coaching staff and teammates, he had a lot going on "internally, emotionally."

"I really wasn't happy," Harold said. "Won a national championship there, they keep winning, they won one last year, but it got to the point where I said, 'I'm in a small town, I'm from St. Louis. I'm just not happy here.'

"So I left and decided to take a chance somewhere else."

Harold said he also had the chance to go to Rutgers, but as a walk-on, would have to pay his tuition -- which was considerably more expensive than Missouri. He said he also could have gone to Missouri State, but instead took a "leap of faith" that took him to Columbia.

"I had somebody that I knew, he was helping me out behind the scenes," Harold said. "But, I decided to come up here myself. As soon as I got out of the car, I ran into Coach Kul (Former DL coach Craig Kuligowski). I came up to him, shook his hand, introduced myself..."

That impromptu introduction happened in July 2015, Harold said. He had no contact with Kuligowski beforehand.

"I think he just saw my size," Harold said. "Being a shorter d-end, too, I kind of had to cheat a little bit, put on some boots, make it seem like I was 6-4 or something. I just went up to him, shook his hand like a man, manned up and said what I'm trying to do."

Those boots, Harold said, were a pair of red Timberlands. His favorite pair.

"The whole thing was just blind," Harold said.

A year later, Harold has gone from a walk-on with a college-ready to body to rotating in with the No. 1-defense, opposite Charles Harris. The 6-2, 263-pound end said his strength is how physical he is, after working on his hands as he sat out, he said that's what he can bring to the field.

"My motivation is, for me, it's a lot more than a game," Harold said. "People back home, any walk-on. It's a lot of stuff. I can't say or put into it, but I just kind of play with a certain passion.

"I don't know. It's hard for me to explain. Got me in the moment."

If Harold sounds like a self-made man, it's because he is. He's an economics major, but is going to switch back to business with an emphasis on management and marketing.

"I really can't see myself working for anybody, but I will if I have to," Harold said. "But I want to own my own entertainment technology business. I actually started at LLC, so hopefully it grows once I put some money into it. It's called Rico Brothers, LLC.

"That's a different subject, though."

For now, the subject is football, and Harold is making a big impression. Charles Harris called Harold the smartest guy on the line, which drew stunned amusement from Harold.

"He said that I'm the smartest? Charles?"

His new defensive line coach, Jackie Shipp, says that Harold uses his power to play the run well, but also rushes the passer "very well."

"I tell you what you've seen," Shipp said. "He's learned the defense and he's making plays, and he's playing very well. I think at times you all have seen him making plays, you go, 'Well, who the hell is that?' He's not a scholarship player, so you're surprised. But he's playing well, so he's got a chance to go with the ones here the past couple of days, because he's earned that. And he's earned it by the way he's played, and he did a lot of good things this spring, so he's moved up there and we gave him a shot with the ones the last couple of days.

"He's a solid player. He does everything good. He's going to end up making plays for you. He plays with great effort. And he's playing good football, let's just put it that way."

His new head coach, Barry Odom, said that Harold's "tremendous motor" hasn't changed from when he first showed up on campus. Odom also said that Harold's admittedly not-ideal height isn't a factor.

"More than anything, and from a guy that's not blessed in the height department, I know what he's saying," Odom said. "But it's about body leverage, it's about your competitive spit and it's about knowing what you're doing.

"And I like his height."

Florrisant to Maryville to Columbia, with a detour in Kuwait mixed in.

"It's been tough, man" Harold said. "It's mental. Everything is mental. I step into this world and everything is literally mental.

"You come in, they don't know who you are, OK, he's just some walk-on. And you've got to prove yourself, you've got to prove everybody wrong. Gotta go through all the doubt, work your up up. That's it."

Harold's journey, in that case, is just beginning.