Fieldcrest’s Jordan Carey ready to help Knights reach old heights

MINONK – In Jordan Carey’s freshman year for the Fieldcrest football team, the Knights were coming off a 4-0 record during the COVID-19 shortened 2021 spring season after a 12-1 mark in 2019 that included a Class 2A semifinal playoff appearance [the sixth postseason berth in eight seasons] but entered the fall looking to replace the entire starting 11 on offense and all but one on defense.

Fieldcrest finished without a victory and went just 1-8 in Carey’s sophomore season. However, last season the Knights improved to 4-5 and were just a couple of plays from flipping that record and earning a playoff berth.

Carey, a 5-foot-7, 215-pound senior offensive guard and defensive tackle, wants to help the program take the next step, but his goals are pretty simple.

“My goal personally for the season is to keep working hard, really just keep doing what I’m doing,” said Carey, who will make the move from center to guard on offense. “As for a team goal, obviously making the playoffs would be awesome, but beyond that my hope for my senior year is that we play well each week, win some games and have some fun. If those last three things happen, I’ll call the season a win.”

Carey, who helped the Knights post 311.6 total yards per game on offense and recorded 21 tackles (16 solo) on defense in 2023, said one thing he feels will help the Knights reach their goals will be continuing to do things that led to the improvement last fall.

“I feel like a lot of my strengths are maybe not all game based,” Carey said. “I feel it’s important to show up on time, every time, to things, whether it be workouts or practices or anything else. I feel like I’m, and I feel the whole team is as well, accountable and gives the best effort we can. I think it’s important if you’re going to put time into something you go as hard as you can all the time. I guess that way no matter what happens, even if you make mistakes along the way, you don’t have to look back and regret anything.”

Fieldcrest coach Nick Meyer said while his first season was a tough one, he knew seeing his players continue to do all the right things even when it didn’t translate to victories would eventually get the team headed in the right direction.

“I really think my first year as head coach was actually a fortunate situation, and that is hard to say when you go 1-8. But beyond that was the fact that we had, and continue to have, really good kids that understood the culture, especially that senior group,” Meyer said. “We may not have been winning games, but the kids were doing all the right things, showing up on time, giving 100% and being great teammates no matter the situation. Then last year that senior class, [which] was really only playing its second full season because of the pandemic, [kept] things going and pushed the bar back higher. Now this year’s group of seniors has continued all of that, has worked hard and wants to top that.

“Jordan is and has been one of the hardest working kids we’ve had in the program. Along with his senior classmates, they’ve been through it all, but that has only made them stronger, in my opinion. One thing I always know for sure, they are going to give everything they have to help our team be successful.”

Carey said his main goals in the offseason were to continue to get stronger in the weight room, but also work on his quickness. He said he feels as a team there is one thing that they all agreed needs to improve this season.

“I think as linemen we all talked about working on being better blockers,” Carey said. “I feel like last year we were strong enough in our line play, but there were times where we’d miss an assignment, and to be successful that can’t happen as much as it did. It wasn’t just on one guy; it was collectively something that we know this season we have to be much better at.

“I believe we will be.”

Fieldcrest opens the regular season Aug. 30 at home against Meridian.