Jordan Hopkins selected as January recipient of Unsung Leader Award
An “inner drive and commitment to excellence in each aspect of his life” are some of the traits that make Jordan Hopkins the January recipient of the Unsung Leader Award, a monthly honor presented by Tennessee Tech Athletics.
By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports
Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – An “inner drive
and commitment to excellence in each aspect of his life” are
some of the traits that make Jordan Hopkins a natural leader,
according to his coach.
And those are some of the character traits that have led to
Hopkins, a senior on the Golden Eagle baseball team, to be selected
as the January recipient of the Unsung Leader Award, a monthly
honor presented by the Tennessee Tech Athletics Department.
“As a senior and someone who has been in this program for
four years, Jordan is uniquely aware of the accountability,
integrity, passion and high-level character traits that are
expected out of our players,” said head coach Matt Bragga.
“He exemplifies these characteristics on a daily basis.
“Jordan has an inner drive and commitment to excellence in
each aspect of his life that is unmatched,” Bragga said.
“He excels as a leader, which is evident by his near
unanimous selection as a team captain, and he excels in the
classroom with well over a 3.0 GPA. Jordan has been a key
contributor to the success of our baseball program.”
Entering his final season on the Golden Eagle roster, Hopkins
came to Tech in 2011 out of Grace Christian Academy in Knoxville,
Tenn. After two season splitting time at catcher for Tech, he
emerged last year as the everyday starter, either behind the play
or as the designated hitter. He led the OVC with a perfect 1.000
fielding percentage for the second consecutive year, and managed a
.289 batting average with 41 RBI and 43 runs scored.
"I'm really honored to receive this award," Hopkins said. "I'm so
blessed to to be able to be a captain on this year's team,
alongside two great leaders in [Jacob] Honea and DBO [Dylan
Bosheers]. I'm pumped to finally get to start this season on
Friday. We have a lot of talent across the board and are ready to
do big things and make a lot of noise come tournament time!"
The son of Mark and Karla Hopkins, he is majoring in
EXPW/pre-physical therapy and has been named to the Athletic
Director’s Honor Roll four times.
“Jordan is an absolutely tremendous leader and top-notch
example for players in our program,” Bragga said.
“Jordan sets the tone for the unchangeable, unshakeable and
unstoppable mentality we desire from all of our players, whether it
be in the community, classroom, weight room or on the
field.”
The Unsung Leader Award was created to recognize leadership by
student-athletes, with an award presented each month throughout the
academic year. A year ago, Tech’s student-athletes and staff
attended a leadership seminar, and Director of Athletics Mark
Wilson wanted to find ways to keep student-athletes motivated
toward following the ideals learned at the event.
“The seminar allowed student-athletes to learn, interact and
discuss traits of leadership, and in turn we see our
student-athletes demonstrating those traits every day,”
Wilson said. “This award is a way to recognize that
leadership, which many times isn’t reflected in headlines or
other ways. It’s quiet leadership, behind-the-scenes
leadership, that makes everybody better.
“These young men and women are leaders, pure-and-simple, not
doing the right thing for recognition but to make themselves, their
teammates, and their teams better,” Wilson said.
One example of Hopkins’ leadership, according to Bragga, is
the commitment he demonstrated to his teammates’ academic
success as well as his own during the fall of 2014 by leading
numerous study sessions in the team clubhouse.
“Often times, these sessions would follow 6 a.m. morning
weight training. Several other players would be in attendance and
the time would be incredibly focused and intense in nature,”
Bragga said.
“Another example of Jordan’s leadership is the
significant amount of time he voluntarily spends on his own working
relentlessly in the weight room, cages and on the field,”
added Bragga. “The examples he sets for newcomers to our
program about what it means to be a TTU baseball player is
irreplaceable. He is also one of the best vocal leaders we
have had. He takes charge of the field from his catching
position and this is exactly what we want from our
catchers.”
One student-athlete, nominated by his/her coaching staff, is
selected and recognized for exemplifying outstanding leadership
qualities during the previous month. The leadership can be shown on
the field, in the weight room, at practice, in the classroom, in
study hall, on campus, in the community, for a student club or
organization.
This award honors a varsity student-athlete who has made a
positive impact on their team and the Tennessee Tech community as a
whole, through his or her dedication to demonstrating leadership
traits, such as:
* Keep Learning, Growing,
and Improving
* Follow Through with
Excellence
* Accomplish More than
Expected
* Inspire and Motivate
Others
Previous Unsung Leader Award winners have been Ellen Conti (volleyball in September), Austin Tallant (football in October), Geoffrey Sambu (cross country in November), and Courtney Smith (volleyball in December).
