The friendship and the rivalry will continue.
Myles Ellis and Joaquin Jordan aren’t allowed to race each other during Homewood-Flossmoor track practice, they said. They’re just too competitive and the trash talking can get out of hand.
Football coaches in Fargo will get the chance to experience that soon, as the two friends both signed to play football at North Dakota State at H-F’s athletic signing event Feb. 18 in the school’s auditorium.
“It’s just a winning culture. They win. They send guys to the next level,” Ellis said. “That’s just where I think that I’ll fit and be developed as a young man.”
A few dozen H-F football teammates packed the auditorium for the signing event. They were boisterous and loud when Jordan, Ellis and other football players were announced.
Ellis committed to the Bison last April. Jordan announced in January. Both will play wide receiver.
“It was a huge factor (that Ellis was already committed),” Jordan said. “Just knowing that it’s another guy, one of my close friends that I worked out with consistently, knowing that he’ll push me to get better at the next level, as well. It’s going to be real competition.”
The duo will add legitimate speed to the North Dakota State wide receiver room.
Both sprinters are key parts of a Vikings track team with high hopes this spring. H-F is the preseason No. 1 team in Illinois. They each ran a leg of last year’s state championship 400-meter and runner up 800-meter relay teams.
Ellis said he became a recruiter for NDSU in the fall. Bison coaches talked to Jordan about Ellis, too.
“I did a tad bit (of recruiting),” he said. “I stayed in his ear.”
North Dakota could be a bit of a culture shock for a couple of kids from Chicagoland, they admit. But each sees that as a positive thing. They’ll concentrate on football and school, and they’ll have a partner from back home, too.
“It’s a blessing not going down there alone, somebody you can trust going through the process with you and figuring out the do’s and don’ts,” Ellis said. “It’s just a blessing when you got somebody with you.”
Jordan will study business administration. Ellis will study broadcast journalism.
