Penn State Football: Defensive Tackle Reverses Course After Saying He Is Leaving Team

This story has been updated.

In a long series of since-deleted tweets, Penn State defensive tackle Ellison Jordan said on Tuesday afternoon that he would not be returning to the Penn State football team. But it now, it seems, that may not be the case.

By and large, Jordan’s initial posts indicated he was departing because issues related to a career full of injuries and surgeries. The original tweets said he has been cleared to play football again but it would not be at Penn State. After deleting those tweets, he followed up by writing, ‘Let things be clear I didn’t OFFICIALLY transfer. I repeat I didn’t OFFICIALLY transfer… And I am not transferring from Penn St. Was just a little frustrated.’ After the original tweets, which said he

In short, Jordan suffered what amounted to a season-ending non contact kneecap injury during practice in the lead-up to Penn State’s Fiesta Bowl appearance. His recovery and treatment following the injury involved several setbacks, all of which came after an ACL tear prior to arriving at Penn State.

Jordan said in his first posts and later on a Periscope livestream that he has been battling against depression and is working on his own mental health along the way.

The 6-foot, 291-pound Jordan recorded two tackles and a sack last year and played in seven games as a redshirt freshman in 2017, recording nine tackles and a half-sack.

His ongoing injury issues had him out of most people’s early 2019 depth charts, but few departures are ever a positive for a college football program.

Penn State has not yet commented on Jordan’s situation.