Scholar Stories: Glasgow's Unique, Challenging Route to Excel in Academics, Football
11/6/2019 10:25:00 AM | Football, Features
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Jordan Glasgow is what happens when extremely high aptitude and off-the-charts work ethic and desire come together in the same person.
Glasgow walked on the University of Michigan football team five seasons ago, just as his two older brothers now in the NFL did, and wasn't deterred by having to settle for playing on special teams before blossoming into the Wolverines' second-leading tackler as a fifth-year senior in 2019.
He's become a focal part of the defense, and Tuesday (Nov. 5) was announced as a nominee for the Burlsworth Trophy that is awarded to "the most outstanding football player in America" who began his career with no athletic department financial aid as a freshman.
Glasgow could have taken a less-challenging academic route than the prestigious Ross School of Business, but excelled there, too, earning a degree in business administration and becoming a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection.
But he did not stop there, and is close to completing a real estate development certificate in the Rackham Graduate School.
"He's almost not human-like in that you never see any kind of flaw or weakness physically or a complaint for anything," said Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. "He's just a jackhammer at all times and goes 100 percent at getting the job done, and doing it to the best of his God-given ability every single time.
"That's what I admire most about him. We'll take as many Jordan Glasgows as we can get."
Jordan points to his parents, Steven and Michele Glasgow, both orthopedic surgeons who own Midwest Orthopaedic Institute in Sycamore, Illinois, as the sources of his tremendous desires as a student-athlete.
"What I'm proudest of with Jordan is his work ethic and focus," said Steven. "He really does not quit, will not give up. That's his No. 1 strength. I watched him struggle to meet the great demands of both the Ross Business School and football team, and he applied himself so well to both."
"We always expected the best from Jordan and his brothers academically."
From left: Ryan, Jordan and Graham Glasgow as Michigan teammates in 2015.
Graham and Ryan Glasgow preceded Jordan at Michigan, and both earned economics degrees before being drafted by the Detroit Lions and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively. Steven said the decision he and Michele made to send them to Marmion Academy in Aurora, about 40 miles from their home in DeKalb, Illinois, was central to the success of Jordan and his brothers.
"It's a Benedictine monk military academy," said Steven. "Their attitude was: 'Why are you doing this to us?" We said, 'Well, to those who much is given, much is expected. We expect you to work hard, and we're going to ask a lot of you. The world can be a very difficult and brutal place, and you need to be prepared and challenge yourselves.'
"By the time it was Jordy's turn, that's what was expected. So, it wasn't a big deal for him. But the older boys both took us aside during their junior years and told us, 'This was just a wonderful choice. Thank you so much.'"
Steven, who played football at the University of Pennsylvania, said his experience at a Jesuit high school in Scranton, Pennsylvania, "was an integral component of what allowed me to be successful," and so they sent the boys to Marmion and their daughter, Anna, now studying forensic science at Indiana University, to Rosary High, Marmion's "sister school."
Steven added, "But really my wife is the keeper of the academic flame. She is the far more demanding academic parent," and graduated from Johns Hopkins.
Michele said "Jordy was an academic work in progress" until high school and "was so much more interested in sports than class assignments" and required "a lot of prodding" to reach his academic potential.
She said Jordan was "almost like a Mark Twain character" and loved adventure, which meant he "found classrooms to be challenging" places of confinement.
"But he's always loved to read," said his mother. "That's a good starting point. At Marmion, he placed out of his freshman math class to an advanced geometry class. I thought that was a pivotal moment. Everyone was startled that he ended up taking all these advanced classes and doing so well. It was just his time; kids mature differently."
"And in high school, he found he really could excel academically. He did incredibly well and his personality with the intensity and focus to get things done also is what allowed him to do so well in college and with football. You can't say 'no' to him because he will wear you down.
"More than any person I know, Jordy has that focus to press on. He'll work on it until he conquers the material. He has an intensity to be successful, and his success academically is personality-driven."
Juggling football and graduate school is a challenge, but Glasgow utilized study strategies that played off his strengths.
"I lock myself in before a test and study for 10 or 15 hours over three days," he said.
So, he's a test-crammer?
"Yeah," said Glasgow, "it works for me. When you have football, it can be difficult to take one hour out of your day every day. I study best when I know that, right now, I have to sit down and get ready for this test. It's rewarding but also very tiring."
He's always scored high on standardized tests, his mother said.
"All the boys were at Michigan together in 2015 and the older boys told me everyone on the team had been given the Wonderlic Test," said Steven. "I asked how they did, and they said, 'We both got a 36.' I said, 'That's pretty good. What was the highest score?' There was no response. I repeated the question and still got no response. Finally, they said, 'Oh, a 42.' I asked, 'Well, who got that?' Now, there was definitely no response and I said, 'WELL, who got that?' They said, 'Jordy.'"Â
According to the website WonderlicTestSample.com, "The test is sometimes called a 'quick IQ test' because of the short 12-minute time limit placed on the test. While it is not the same as an IQ test, it does focus on determining overall cognitive abilities in the areas of math, vocabulary and reasoning." A perfect score is 50, but 42 is considered "extremely high."
Rather than study medicine like his parents, Jordan chose to pursue the real estate development certificate after having an interest sparked in that by friends he made as an undergraduate who said it aided them greatly once reaching the business world.
"I'm looking to go into commercial or residential real estate after I finish football," said Jordan. "I feel this will give me a good groundwork for what I want to go into. Some of my classes provide practical things you can use from people who are in real estate -- their advice from successes and from failures. Learning from people who have been through the experiences you hope to partake in is a great benefit."
He hopes to begin his career in commercial real estate in New York -- where his uncle, James Glasgow, owns a private real estate investment trust and had Jordan intern one summer -- or Chicago. Then he hopes to move into residential real estate.
Glasgow said the undergraduate professor he "had the opportunity to learn the most from in terms of career skills and life skills" was Len Middleton.
"I had him for a few classes and really enjoyed him," said Glasgow. "I had two entrepreneurship classes with him in terms of creating a product or service and building it up from scratch. I would go to his office when I had the opportunity to talk with him, and he's a great guy and a great teacher, very successful in his own right."
He said his father's interest in residential real estate sparked his interest in that field.
"Both of my parents have supported me in sports," said Jordan, "but they've supported me more in academics. Obviously, both being doctors, and they were team doctors for NIU (Northern Illinois University) until my brothers went to college. They wanted to go to our games and couldn't cover those games any more.
"They stressed that sports could be over in a second with a head, knee or shoulder injury. So, academics was the most important thing. The body goes before the mind, and they stressed that to me. I feel I've done the best of my brothers in academics. But, obviously, they're both achieving in the NFL. That's what's important to them. But they both got economics degrees from Michigan. You do that, and you're doing well for yourself."
The NFL seemed like a long-shot even one year ago for Jordan, but he's having an outstanding season that could result in him getting drafted or signing as a free agent.
"Depending on how the rest of this year goes," said Glasgow, "I'm hoping that I will leave after this semester for (pre-draft) training. My main focus all along has been academics, but I have one shot at playing (pro) football, and that's my primary concern. I guess football and school are of equal importance right now.
"When I come back to finish this Certificate, I'll only have one semester left -- which would be pretty easy, just a few classes."
Glasgow is second on the team with 63 tackles, tied for third with four sacks and also has 4.5 tackles for losses, two quarterback hurries, two pass breakups and recovered one fumble primarily as an outside linebacker. He also made a pivotal blocked punt in the win at Illinois.
After the Iowa game, Harbaugh said of Glasgow: "On one play, he's in pass coverage. In the next play, he's making a sack."
Glasgow came to Michigan as a walk-on, and was asked if that still allows him to have a chip on his shoulder even though he's on scholarship.
"I don't think so," he said. "It's been awhile since I've been in that shoe, but I've gone through the process and become a specific player and type of person because of it. I think I'm better for it, for having come through as a walk-on.
"I want to keep achieving. I haven't played on the defense a whole lot before this year. So, I feel I have a lot to improve upon, and look forward to doing that."
He had a sack of Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley that exhibited perfect timing, and Glasgow discussed what goes into disguising a blitz until the last possible instant.
"Offenses have a lot of keys and game plan for what they know you want to do," he said. "Disguising it and timing up blitzes are extremely important. That goes to show how good of coaches we have. We're able to play fast and loose in a lot of situations.
"Coach (Don) Brown is my position coach and also our defensive coordinator. He does a great job in getting me ready for games and understanding what I need to know to achieve. The thing I like about him is he'll coach you whether you are fourth string or first string.
"When he first came in as our coach, I was fourth string at safety and changed positions and moved up, and developed into a good player thanks to his guidance and the guidance of other coaches along the way. I'm very grateful he was able to provide such good coaching and opportunity for me."
Glasgow has all the ingredients that great coaches have, and was asked if he might consider coaching.
"I think football is a great vehicle to learn life's lessons and about putting your nose to the grindstone," he said. "I think a lot of my academic success has come from that. You learn you just have to do what you have to do.
"It would be nice to influence other young men in that way in terms of football, but there are some things I want to achieve before I go down a coaching path. I don't know that I would want to do it on as big a stage as Michigan football, but it would be fun to do high school coaching. It's awesome helping others achieve what they want to achieve or what you've achieved."
