Jordan Battle, who won titles at St. Thomas Aquinas and Alabama, goes to Bengals in Draft
Jordan Battle got his name because of Michael Jordan — his father played basketball professionally overseas — but found his calling in football.
Now, the safety is headed to the NFL after the Cincinnati Bengals took him with the 32nd pick in the third round — No. 95 overall — of the 2023 NFL Draft on Saturday.
It’s not exactly a surprise. Battle was the Miami Herald’s Broward County Defensive Player of the Year for Classes 8A-6A back in 2019, and won a pair of state championships at St. Thomas Aquinas as a freshman and sophomore, in 2015 and 2016.
He was the No. 2 safety and No. 43 overall prospect in the 247Sports composite rankings for the Class of 2019, and landed with the Alabama Crimson Tide for a reason: Battle has been one of the most talented defensive backs in the country for close to a decade, first in high school and then again in college.
As a senior in Fort Lauderdale, Battle had 30 tackles and three interceptions and then immediately became a contributor once he got to Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 2019. He played in 54 games and started 44 in four seasons with the Crimson Tide, and was a second-team All-American in each of the last two years. Last year, the 6-foot-1, 209-pound defensive back had 71 tackles, a half a tackle for loss, one interception and three passes defended as a versatile anchor to a championship-caliber defense.
He also won a national title with Alabama as a sophomore in 2020. Although he had one year of eligibility remaining because of the COVID-19 bonus year, Battle decided to finally enter the NFL Draft earlier this year and will now try to bring his knack for winning to the highest level.
Battle is the fifth player from South Florida to be picked in this Draft and the second former Raider, following tackle Tyler Steen — also of Alabama — who went in the second round Friday.
Battle and Steen make it 35 graduates of St. Thomas Aquinas to be drafted into the NFL in history.
