Will We See Jordan Van Den Berg Move Up Draft Boards After A Stellar College Career?

Jordan Van Den Berg has long been an underrated player, but that hasn’t stopped him from having a productive collegiate career. Two years ago, he transferred to the Yellow Jackets and made quite a career on the Flats and was one of the defensive leaders in the Brent Key era during his time with the Yellow Jackets. He was consistent with his physicality, work ethic, and ability to affect games at a high level.

He finished his Yellow Jackets career with 65 tackles and three sacks. Van Den Berg was known for his penetration and ability to make a living in the backfield with his tackles for loss. Oftentimes, he was unblockable and would even face double teams to slow him down. That was on full display this past season against Duke, where he had one of his best games of the year. Van Den Berg finished with five tackles and a half sack, but most importantly, he stopped several goal-line attempts for the Blue Devils to get in the endzone with his penetration and the ability to move through the gaps. He is an excellent run stopper and one who doesn’t quit on plays. He took that strong effort and displayed it throughout the season, showing what kind of player he is. He was so good that he was named first-team All-ACC after a stellar year.

Van Den Berg didn’t stop there. He had a very productive pro day where he benched 225 pounds 35 times, ran a 4.9 40-yard dash, posted a 4.19 20-yard shuttle, finished with a 36-inch vertical, and a 9-foot-11 broad jump. It was one of the best pro days you will see from a defensive lineman who flew under the radar and didn’t receive an invite to the NFL Combine. He’s continued to use that as a chip on his shoulder and fuel for him throughout the process.

The Pro day has people talking, and we could very well see Van Den Berg taken in the NFL Draft that is less than a month away. His former position coach, Jess Simpson, talked about the kind of player he is and what he stood for while he was a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket.

“So what JJ brought to us is the essence of when you walk into our room, there's a competes and tough chart. Your urgency, your strain, the detail in your work, your physicality. He literally tried to embody, and he wasn't perfect at it, but boy, he raised the bar for a tough guy. What a worker is, his physicality was real. He was a guy that was for everybody else, too. He was a guy that's gonna pour it out. Georgia Tech forever will show highlights of JJ Van Den Berg running down, being a stack monster, finding the ball in the perimeter, and doing stuff like that. And it's fun to watch. When you have guys play that way, it's so much louder than what I say as a coach or what we say to each other. It's watch the tape. That's who we are, that's how we play. Everybody in the last two years saw what he did, and good for him, man. He deserves everything he's about to get, and I think something really good is gonna happen for him,” said Simpson.

Whoever decides to take a chance on Van Den Berg is getting a high-character individual and one who loves the game of football. Don’t be surprised if you see him making an impact at the next level sooner rather than later.