Hawkeye Conversations: Jordan Bernstine

In the Class of 2007, no prospect was discussed more than Jordan Bernstine and his recruiting process. We talk about his recruiting process and what eventually led him to sign with the University of Iowa. Then we look back at his career with the Hawkeyes and how he battled injuries in his career and eventually found a home in his senior year. Finally we discuss his time in the NFL and how it led him to develop his business, Ground Up Sports Performance.

Q: Do you remember the first school to offer and what that moment was like?

BERNSTINE: I remember that like it was yesterday. My first offer was from Nebraska and it was completely out of nowhere. I never got a letter from them or really anything. It was the summer before my senior year and I was at weightlifting and was trying to get into the 1,000 pound club. I finished my final hang clean and I remember my coach comes in and says, and that’s why he just got his first offer from the University of Nebraska!

It was a pretty cool moment.

Q: When does Reese Morgan really enter your life?

BERNSTINE: He was actually in earlier than the first offer. He was recruiting me early, but they didn’t offer me. I joke that they just didn’t like me enough at the time and I give them a hard time about that. (laugh)

Q: When did things blow up for you? Was it the Nike Camp in Columbus or was it even before then?

BERNSTINE: I think that’s what really opened some eyes. I was getting some recruiting interest at the time from a lot of places. Everyone seemed to be waiting and seeing who would pull the trigger. We went to the Nike Camp at Ohio State and I ran a 4.3 and jumped over 40 plus inches. I remember Coach Tressel pulled me into his office and talking to me, but he didn’t offer and I was like come on. (laugh)

Q: Did that become kind of a wild time for you and who helped keep you grounded when you kind of blew up?

BERNSTINE: I am pretty humble by nature because my expectations for myself and from my family were always pretty high. They expected a lot from me. When I would get an offer they would be like, well, that’s all you got? I set a goal for myself when I was a 125 pound freshman watching the Rivals recruiting rankings and things like that and I said to myself that I wanted to be one of the top safeties in the country. I was working towards that all along and it was fun.

Q: How did you work through the process and narrow things down?

BERNSTINE: I narrowed it down by researching the schools and studying them. I wasn’t a guy who rushed the process. I took all five visits and I would evaluate each of them. I would talk to the coaches and the players and see if their goals lined up with my goals. At the end of that process, everything kept coming back to the University of Iowa.

Q: I think one of the things that got lost in your recruiting process was that while you lived in Iowa, you spent most of your life up until high school in California. Did that make you want to look around even more?

BERNSTINE: Absolutely. Not being an Iowa kid was a little strange because I moved right before freshman year and that was my first exposure to Iowa football and the other schools in the state. I was used to seeing UCLA and USC when I was growing up. Even when Iowa was really good in 2002, I kept thinking to myself, I’m not going to go to Iowa. I want to go back to California. But, it all came back to being at home and most of my family was now in Iowa. My mom and grandma both came to all my games and they were my support system. That was a big deal for me. That made Iowa the best fit for me.

Q: When prospects take five visits there’s a tendency for pressure to build on kids. I couldn’t imagine doing what you did today in the world of social media and dealing with that added pressure.

BERNSTINE: Yeah, I couldn’t imagine doing that now. I tell that to some of the kids that I work with. Recruiting is just so different. The expectations are just so different. Kids are now expecting to get offers in the 9th grade. I wasn’t expecting to get an offer in the 9th grade. I had just moved to Iowa and my coaches didn’t even know me. At the time I was 5-5 and 125 pounds and these kids expect early offers now.

Q: The way you went about it, the process kind of felt like something you needed to go to be really comfortable with your decision.

BERNSTINE: I really needed to get a true feel. Recruiting is glitz and glamour. They are all showing you the good side and even when you get there you get some of the good side, but you get different viewpoints.

Q: What were those in-season visits like for you to get a feel for a program during a game setting?

BERNSTINE: I happen to take visits the right weekends. The Nebraska visit was for the Texas game and that was crazy. I enjoyed the atmosphere there. I went to UCLA and that day that upset USC and knocked them out of the national title game that year. That was pretty crazy that day.

But, I talked to my support system and didn’t want to make a decision in the heat of the moment. The visit to Texas A&M was also during the season and it was a good visit. My biggest thing on the visits was getting to talk to the players more and sit in on the DB meetings and get information on the position coach. Like with Coach Parker, he’s Coach Parker every time and I knew that at the time.

Q: How did your uncle Rod help you out in the process? He played in the NFL.

BERNSTINE: Yeah, he definitely helped me as far as not making rash decisions. We communicated along with my mom. He was also big in my setting of expectations. I looked at him and said if he can do it, then I can do it. I just had to put in the work and he set the example for me.

Q: You took your Iowa visit in early December and that was quite a group that came in with that weekend, particularly a lot of the in-state guys.

BERNSTINE: Yeah, the brought in everybody. (laugh) It felt like everyone that visited that weekend ended up committing. We built a great bond that weekend and we were able to hang out as recruits. Nobody was big timing anyone and then we all kind of decided to come to Iowa together. I love all those guys and love the journey we all took together.

Q: Who hosted you that weekend?

BERNSTINE: That weekend it was Miguel Merrick hosting me. He was an amazing host. He showed me the ropes and the expectations in the secondary. He talked about coming in and making plays and developing. That’s what the mindset was under Coach Parker, make plays, develop, and hopefully get an opportunity at the next level.

Q: You went to Pitt after that and I think that was mainly because you had a relationship with Paul Rhoads, right?

BERNSTINE: Yes. I developed a relationship with him. I actually told him I was going to be committing to Iowa after the Iowa visit and I was transparent about it. We had a week between it, so he really wanted me to just come and check some things out. He got me to buy into the visit and even on that visit I told him that Iowa felt like home.

Q: Do you remember what you did on December 23, 2006?

BERNSTINE: Was that the day I committed? It was right around Christmas. I just remember Coach Ferentz was excited and he told me to be prepared to put in the work necessary for the program. As a high school kid, you don’t understand that and that’s why I respect the University of Iowa so much.

Q: Once you get to Iowa there were so many expectations for you. Four star prospect and top player in the state that year. Maybe they were outsized because you were just a true freshman. What do you remember about that first year?

BERNSTINE: I remember my first year very well. The expectations on the outside were high, but my expectations were even higher. That’s just how I think. I wanted to get on campus and start right away, like everyone else.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. (laugh) I remember getting on campus and this is something I joke about with Coach Parker still today, during the recruiting process all the other coaches would get asked, are you looking at me as a cornerback? Safety? Running back? I would ask and Coach Parker never had that conversation with me.

So, first day I get there in the summer we are doing speed workouts and Coach Parker goes ok, safeties to the right and corners to the left. I am going to the right with the safeties and Coach Parker says, hey Bernstine, you are over with the corners. Go over with Godfey and he will help you. I was confused and thinking maybe it’s because he’s a senior and would help me. Nope, I ended up staying there. My freshman year was crazy because of switching positions. I didn’t like the cornerback position a whole lot initially. I was hoping to go back to safety and then Coach Parker pulls me into his office and says, Bernstine, I am not moving you back to safety so you better learn to play corner. After that conversation I locked in and learned how to cover guys. I started watching more film and studying our cornerbacks and I got more confident.

Q: Did any of the corners really help you in that transition?

BERNSTINE: Yeah, Charles was a big help in my first year. He pulled me in the film room with him. Adam Shada really helped me as well. I used to read the message boards and they were saying I was trying to take his spot and he was a huge help to me. Greenwood was so huge in helping me too. He was so smart and knew every position on the field. Plus, he was always in the film room, so he was easy to find.

Myself, Sash, and Morrow were in the film room learning things together trying to get on the field.

Q: Was it a big transition learning to watch film?

BERNSTINE: That really helped me and the biggest thing is learning how to do it. When you get on campus, you have no clue how to watch film. You can watch film and look at plays for two hours and get nothing out of it if you don’t know what you are doing. When I got into the film room with the older guys, that was huge because they can tell you what you are looking for and what you need to do.

Q: Do you remember the interception against Michigan State?

BERNSTINE: Do I remember it? I only had one. (laugh) That was my sophomore year and I was covering the slot and we were playing a zone defense that I didn’t know how to play and I dropped, looked at the quarterback and I got a ball coming at me. I really don’t think I played the right defense.

Q: The thing I always come back to with your Iowa career were the injuries. What were the toughest moments dealing with those injuries?

BERNSTINE: I remember the injuries and the sequences because that were all kind of at bad times. Sophomore year I was getting comfortable at cornerback. As we were going through camp, I pulled a hamstring and I couldn’t open up at all. It was a severe pull. At the time, Amari Speivey and I were competing for a spot and having a lot of fun doing that. I had the upper hand at the time and then once I pulled the hamstring he gets in and I think in the first two games he had three or four picks and all the sudden that left corner spot is filled. (laugh) It was just timing and that’s kind of the story of my career and other guys taking advantage of that opportunity.

Then after my sophomore year once I came back I was playing some nickel and dime during the season. So, junior year, Amari is on the left side, so I will go over to the right side since Bradley Fletcher was gone. I was doing well and feeling good going into camp and I broke my ankle a week before the start of the season and missed the year. Of course that ends up being our Orange Bowl year. I was still locked in with the guys, but it was hard because I couldn’t help like I wanted to.

After the ankle injury I come back the next year and Amari had left early so I’ll go back to that side. The guy under him is Micah Hyde. I remember him in his freshman year he was making all the plays in practice and had crazy ball skills. Coach Parker just loved his instincts and he has that spot locked down once I got back. So we had Micah and Prater at corner, maybe I will go back to safety. Nope, we have Greenwood and Sash back there that year. Timing was just bad.

Q: When you broke your ankle, was that sort of a freak injury?

BERNSTINE: Yeah, freak accident. I ran down as the left gunner on the punt team. As I was getting to the returner I slowed down because the punt was short and he was running towards me. I stick my foot in the ground and my body keeps going. I stand up and I thought my shoe was on wrong because my foot was backwards. I go down and I realize it’s not my shoe. Coach Doyle comes over and Paul Chaney came over and then went away screaming. I remember Coach Doyle was trying to make sure I stayed calm and I really didn’t panic. I just kind of laid there and said, this sucks. (laugh). I started thinking, ok what’s the time frame to come back from a broken ankle because I just wanted to get back.

Q: In the Insight Bowl in 2010, Hyde intercepts that pass late and he’s on one side of the field and you are on the other. All the sudden he’s coming your direction and you make a block on that play. What do you remember about that play?

BERNSTINE: I remember that one. That play actually randomly popped up at my gym the other day. We have a TV and I put on some Hawkeye highlight tape. My partner asked me if I was on it and I said it’s just a general tape, but then I’m like, wait that’s the Insight Bowl and there’s Micah picking off the pass.

It was not a big hit by any means. I just hooked the guy and changed his momentum and Micah got to the corner and he did what he always does.

Q: In 2011 things finally come together for you. Sash had left early and you were able to get back to safety.

BERNSTINE: I remember after Sash told me he was leaving early, I went in to and said to Coach Parker, hey, I’m moving back to safety. (laugh) We still had Micah and Prater and I knew all the positions at that point because I was a senior. But, Coach Parker still wasn’t fully on board, initially. In fall camp he had me splitting reps between safety and corner. I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out there and help the team. Being back at safety kind of felt like I was back at home again and I was playing with a real sense of urgency because my window in college was closing and I understood it.

All fall camp I was doing everything I could and my effort showed on film. All the other coaches saw me flying around and Coach Parker did too. He just needed to see me keep doing it and that’s what I did. In the first couple of weeks we were still splitting reps, which Coach Parker and I joke about still today.

I remember the first game was against Tennessee Tech and that was a strange game. I was flying around and making tackles. Then it started pouring down rain and delayed for a couple of hours and I didn’t care. I was just having fun at safety.

Then the second game I came down with something like strep throat and I was basically quarantined in the room with a 103 degree fever the night before the Iowa State. I couldn’t do anything. I wanted to get to the Iowa State game and make plays and didn’t get to play. I remember I was able to talk and job by halftime and I was trying to talk them into letting me suit up and they told me they couldn’t even take me to the stadium.

Then I got to start after that and I didn’t have to worry about how many plays I would get in for. It was a huge load off of me and Tanner Miller and I were able to develop a really good chemistry in the secondary.

For the rest of the year I was kind of playing for lost time. I was flying around and hit and tackle everyone. That was my mindset. I wish I could have gotten a few more interceptions, but those just didn’t happen.

Q: You were also returning kicks that year. How did you talk them into that one?

BERNSTINE: I had been back returning kicks since I got on campus. I had been talking to Coach Erb since I was on campus to let me return kicks. (laugh) I was always joking with him about it and messing with him and I think he let me do it once in my sophomore year.

Finally gave me the chance and it felt amazing. You watched me in high school, I was a running back and returner. That was my first love. But, defense was where people projected me, so I guess I will go with that.

I enjoyed it until I realized why defensive guys don’t return kicks is because you are usually on something like a 12 play drive when they score and you are tired when they score and then you have to catch that kick and return it. I remember a few times I was just so tired and I’d look over at Micah and dude, you want this one? (laugh) I would not tap my helmet to come out my senior year and let Keenan Davis have one. (laugh) I would tell him you get to touch the ball all the time on offense.

Q: After Iowa you get drafted. Do you remember that day and where you were that day?

BERNSTINE: I was actually at home with my family. I wasn’t even watching it because I wasn’t even sure I would get drafted. I just thought, if I get a call, then I get a call. I was playing Call of Duty at the time and my phone rang and I remember throwing my headset and controller across the room and answering it. I picked up the phone and Hey Jordan, it’s Mike Shanahan from the Washington Redskins, how are you doing today. I just want to let you know we are drafting you. It was crazy. I remember jumping up and down and running what felt like a 4.27 in the 40 down the street…that’s unofficial. (laugh) I walked back into the house and celebrated with the family.

Q: Had to be nice to be going someplace in the NFL and having another rookie teammate coming with you in Adam Gettis.

BERNSTINE: Absolutely. Gettis is my man. Our recruiting class was tight when we came in and the NFL was one of our goals and to be able to be drafted to a place with a guy who came into Iowa with was amazing.

Q: A couple more thing about Iowa. You seemed to have a pretty good relationship with Coach Phil Parker.

BERNSTINE: I have so much love and respect for Coach Parker. I talk about him like three or four times a week to the athletes we train. When I came in I felt like I had one idea and he had another and I was kind of young and resentful at the time. I didn’t understand his process and as I got older, I understood the method to the madness. Then as far as getting on the field, that wasn’t Coach Parker. That was really about the timing of things with injuries and things like that.

Q: What’s it like playing for Kirk Ferentz?

BERNSTINE: Amazing and hard. (laugh) Coach Ferentz, I can’t even put into words how much respect I have for him and how he runs the program and develops young men. He doesn’t care about stars or even if you are an All American on the field. He runs things the right way, the Iowa way, to help you develop and succeed in life after Iowa. He’s here to develop you as a young man and see you be a mature man after you leave Iowa. That the thing that some young guys don’t understand, but you see it more clearly in your junior and senior year.

Q: Once you get to Washington, you had a really good preseason. You were turning some heads and making some plays. Then in the first game of your NFL career, you blew out your knee. How tough was that moment?

BERNSTINE: The NFL experience was fun, but it was just short. I got there and started learning the defense and once I got comfortable there, I felt like I was going to be making twice as many plays. I got to blitz more and I was in the backfield a lot. My first play in the preseason and I beat the tight end on a block and had a three yard tackle for a loss. I was feeling really excited about flying around and making plays in their defense.

Then I made the team and that was a big deal for me. Everyone was so nervous and I didn’t realize it. I was excited and we go to New Orleans and we were rolling. Then I had the knee injury. It was the fourth quarter and I was running down on kickoff. I was engaged with the blocker and looking over his right shoulder and Sproles was coming towards us and two guys who were blocking behind me fall into the back of my legs and roll up on me, like what happens to linemen a lot.

I remember being in the pile and getting up and taking a step and saying, that feels strange. Then another step and that’s not right and then I see the trainers yelling to get down and I have to go through all that on the field. Even then I was thinking I didn’t hear anything pop. I was thinking please no ACL.

Then we got back home and I went to get the MRI and the doctor told me I tore my ACL, MCL, PCL, and I had a ruptured patella tendon. My first question was when can I get back on the field? I remember the doctor say, back on the field? You might not be able to jog or walk without a limp. My mind just goes back to 4.3 in the 40 and 40 inch vertical, yesterday. That was a very tough time and tough thing to hear. I was very motivated to get back on the field and that took some time.

I was with the team the rest of that year and rehabbed with them and made a lot of progress. But, I just wasn’t ready the next preseason and the team goes in another direction. But, I just kept rehabbing twice a day for another year and I was finally ready for the following year. I started making some calls and then partially tore the ACL again and had to rehab that. I was still thinking I could have a shot and was working out and rehabbing and that’s when I found my true passion of helping other athletes and things like that. It was a long process and I really never hung up the cleats until I found out I was having twins. (laugh) Then it was time to be realistic and get some things done.

Q: The rehab really led you to your career now and your business, which is in Colorado Springs. It’s called Ground Up Sports Performance and it’s a training facility there.

BERNSTINE: It’s not work. I love it. It’s amazing to me because I never knew I would be into coaching and training athletes. People would ask me about coaching and if I was interested and I would say, I really don’t think I would do. It wasn’t on my list of things to do, but it kind of came to me organically and true while I was rehabbing. As I was learning to train my body to get back on the field and do all the movements, I started having some college athletes and some D1 recruits come to me and say, you are doing this and I want to do it with you. I was doing my workout and they were tagging along.

The next thing you know, I kind of turn into Coach Parker. They hadn’t been taught these things and don’t understand all those things, and I sound like Coach Parker correcting them on things. These guys are doing all the things Coach Parker would get on me about for three years. (laugh) I understood all those things now because I did them wrong a bunch of times and then learned to do them right. I was able to get that across and I saw the process and saw them get better and that was great for me.

From there I had to put together a business plan and an organization for Ground Up Sports Performance. My partner Mike and I train athletes here in the Colorado Springs area and we have been getting amazing results since we opened the doors over two years ago. When we opened things up, I knew my partner and that was about it here and to be able to build the business and the culture here has been great. I feel like I have brought the Iowa culture here. That attention to detail and guys understanding the process. I tell them you have to put in the work, just like we did at Iowa.