Inside the War Room with Jordan Arcement: Part I
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series of conversations with senior scout Jordan Arcement, a Louisiana native who is at the heart of the success Virginia has had recruiting “The Boot” in recent years.
College football seems to be going in a direction where a lot of schools have recruiting staffs who are taking on more and more responsibilities, more than they would have four or five years ago. How did you get into this and what was your role at the start?
So, I played college football at Nicholls State and I was coached by Justin Anderson, who is our director of player personnel, and also Ricky Brumfield, who is our special teams coordinator. After college, I ended up coaching high school football and that’s how I really got introduced to the recruiting process. I had a kid then, Davontavean Martin, who is actually at Washington State now. But his mother had passed and his dad was in jail, so he didn’t really have anybody. So I kind of played a big brother role for him and helped him with the recruiting process and so that’s how I met Coach (Marques) Hagans. He recruited him for UVa. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for him academically with UVa but that was my first connection with Coach Hagans. Through that process, I was also at the Arizona Western national championship game watching another one of my players and I met Coach (Jason) Beck on the sidelines. So, I definitely had a few different signs I guess you’d say pointing me to UVa.
But after helping Tay through the process, I really liked it. I just thought it was a really intriguing process and so I learned about the recruiting process being on the opposite side of it. Then I kind of just started helping kids in the area who were talented, gave them that blueprint on how to do it. My passion is people and changing lives and using the game of football to do it. High school coaching wasn’t really fulfilling for me, so I pursued the college route on the scouting and recruiting side and one thing led to another. I met Terry McDonough, who was the assistant director of player personnel for the Arizona Cardinals. I interviewed to be a scout with them and I called Justin to put him down as a reference, so when I didn’t get that job, we talked and a couple weeks later I was moving to Virginia. It was kind of crazy how it all worked out, having met those guys and been through Tay’s process. Doing research on Coach (Bronco) Mendenhall, it just seemed like a match and I really respected the things he had done and the success he had had to that point, how he uses his program to develop people. Getting here, I believed in his vision. I took a chance, man. I quit my job and moved and took a part-time role as a recruiting assistant and just got to work. I was on my grind immediately. Within six months, I moved to a full-time role and then became senior scout. So, since I’ve been here things have definitely changed and grown. I see that all over college football, from Power 5 to Group of 5, where everybody is trying to add pieces to their organization just to help out and make a difference in finding kids and getting them. At the end of the day recruiting is the lifeblood of your program.
So, Nicholls State huh? You were born and raised in Louisiana then?
I grew up in Louisiana, yes sir. I’m from Thibodaux, which is 45 minutes outside of New Orleans and that’s where Nicholls State is located. I decided to stay home and play football there and actually, Justin’s wife is from there too and the first time he met me was actually in the living room of his mother in law’s home.
Small world, huh? Alright, so you go from Louisiana to Virginia, which I guess prepares you in a way because you’re talking to kids all the time about going from Louisiana to Virginia to go to school and play ball. What were those first few weeks, first few months like for you? How long did it take to adjust to the Virginia way of life?
I would say it was definitely different. Born and raised in Louisiana, I had done some traveling and vacationing but had never come all the way up this far north. It was just really good people, though. I think people make the biggest difference honestly and knowing Justin and Coach Ricky and Coach Hagans, having met Coach Beck, I just felt like I was really fortunate because I’d have a family away from my family. That’s just the culture that we have here and that’s what we try to show the kids when they get here. I mean, everybody preaches family but we feel like we actually live it. It’s easy to say “family” but when you get here and you feel it, that’s what really jumps out to the kids I think. Even for me, from the time I got here it’s been that way. I lived with Justin for two weeks. Coach Hagans and his wife welcomed me in like I was one of their own. I feel like all of these people will be lifetime family members of mine, same as the kids will be a part of our families a long time after their playing days here are over.
Okay, so you land, you get your feet under you. I want to drill into what it was like recruiting Louisiana and talking to kids about coming to Virginia, coming up for not just official visits but on unofficial visits, too. That’s a long hike on their own dime. So, when you first started how different was that for them? To even hear from UVa? Because that wasn’t a pipeline that existed before you guys all arrived.
I think everybody knows a little bit about Louisiana and one of things about it is that it’s known for having great athletes. I think Coach Brumfield says its perfect: It’s about the people. Since I’m from down there and I’ve coached there, I think those relationships just really matter. What it comes down to is the people you know. We both have a lot of relationships there and it seems like if he doesn’t know somebody I do and vice versa. For whatever reason, Virginia is attractive to these kids down there. I don’t know if it’s just because they hear about it so much from us or what. But they know it’s ACC football and a great education. So, they know all those things plus they know they’ve got people in Coach Brumfield and myself that are from Louisiana. We like to take care of our own especially. So, I wouldn’t say it was difficult at the start, honestly, because it definitely seemed like pretty quickly the kids were responding to it and they were intrigued and then it was about staying on top of it and building those relationships and that trust, getting the chance to provide an opportunity for a world-class education in a program that’s run the right way and geared toward changing people’s lives.
I’m curious about the process of how things work. So, let’s say you’ve found a kid from Louisiana who you think can really play. You love his film. What’s the next step? How do things work from there? How does a kid go from unknown by UVa, undiscovered, to offered and committed to UVa?
So, the first step is always highlight tapes. That’s the big thing. I would say a highlight tape is like a preview to a movie. The previews always look good, right? Because if the preview isn’t any good, nobody is going to see the movie. So then after that, you get into the movie itself. That’s the game film and seeing if it matches what the highlight showed you. You have to make sure it’s not just a thing where he looks good for a few plays. What’s he look like play in and play out? Game in and game out? For some kids, the issue is they don’t know how to make a highlight tape and that’s important because that needs to be your best stuff, all in the front. You need to catch the attention of the viewer. So what we’ve done with several kids is that we watch everything. For Dontayvion (Wicks), we were watching basketball tape too. We watch everything, just trying to see how athletic you are and how you might fit. For him, we remade his highlight tape in the order that it should have been from the start. So, the first step is we show Justin that film and then get him on board with the trailer until he wants to buy a ticket. Then you watch the game film and make sure it matches. Then you take it to the position coach and you go from there. Once you have that sign off, you’ve got the blessing you need. Coach Mendenhall gives the position coaches 100 percent of the choice on that. He lets them rule their room, so it’s just like it is in life. Their rooms are reflections of them. They get to say who they do and don’t want. It always reflects back on them and what they want. And then from there, you build the relationship to make sure the kid is the right fit at UVa and that they can make it here for four years and get a degree and fit in and be a part of the family.
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