
Today’s Rising Senior spotlight is on Jordan Hernandez of Bell High School.
Hernandez will play football and baseball for the Bulldogs during his senior season. In 2019 as a sophomore, he led the baseball team with four doubles and finished the season with nine RBI and nine runs scored.
Last fall, as a junior, he played offense, defense and special teams for the Bell football team. Hernandez averaged 6.5 yards per carry on offense. He also had a season-high 130 yards on seven kick returns against Bronson.
On defense he finished second on the team with eight tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks. He had a season-high nine tackles against Trenton. Hernandez, who finished with 37 tackles, earned honorable mention selection on the Gainesville Sun’s All-Area team.
His goals this fall are to be the best athlete he can be and to be a great teammate. He wants to prove some people wrong about his team and make the playoffs. His personal goal is to rush for over 500 yards.
Hernandez is one of five starters returning on defense for the Bell football team, along with Trent Steedley, who is back to anchor the line after leading the team with six sacks last year.
A total of six starters return on offense, including quarterback Caden Hastings. However, the Bulldogs must replace their top three running backs from this past fall as Jonathon Neudert, Branden Wallace, and Joey Pinna, who were seniors. The trio combined for 15 touchdowns.
Bell, which finished 3-7 this past season, will once again be competing in Class 1A-Region 3.
Six of the top nine teams in their region, which includes 3-time defending state champion Madison County, will make the postseason.
Head coach Joey Whittington, who enters his eighth season as head coach of the Bulldogs, said the ‘Dogs return a lot of key pieces and if they can get some of their holes filled, and get the ball rolling quickly, they could be in for a great 2020.
If you or someone you know is a student-athlete, and rising senior, we want to hear from you. You can either send us an audio shout out which we will play on the radio, or send us your bio and I will voice it for you. For more information, please email mike@ThePrepZone.com.
Mike Ridaught is the founder and publisher of ThePrepZone.com, the foremost website for high school sports in northeast Florida.