Jordan Pugh – Pushing Upward. Going Higher.® A Sneak Peek Into The Life Of An NFL Player

JTH: You know, at Jam The Hype, we cover a lot of Christian Hip Hop, so you know I have to ask you what you’re listening to these days.

JP: I’m glad you asked that! I’ve been a huge Reach Records fan since I can remember. You name it: Lecrae, Tedashii, Andy Mineo, KB, Trip Lee. Who else…Viktory. I’ve just gotten on Reconcile now. Bizzle. J’Son. Canton Jones. Man, you put me on the spot! I’m trying to think of more guys.

JTH: I’m about to put you on the spot even more! If you could spend one day with any one Christian Hip Hop artist, who would it be?

JP: Man, that ain’t fair, man! Here’s the thing, okay, if we go with record labels, I’d have to say Reach Records. But depended on, I don’t know man, maybe Andy Mineo. We’re the same age. Man, I don’t know. Probably Andy Mineo. I go back and forth. I’m trying to figure out who I like the most. My sister introduced me to Tedashii’s music so Tedashii was my dude. Then Andy came and now I’m like, “I don’t know who I like the most!” So literally, it goes back and forth.

JTH: What’s your favorite Reach album then? If you were getting in your car right now to go to the store what are you putting on when you riding to the store?

JP: Man, that’s not a fair question either! I don’t know man. If I had to choose to one, if I had to die today, and I had to choose one album to bring with me, it would probably be Church Clothes. If I had to choose one. You hurt my feelings though! Certain things hit me at certain times though. Like when Church Clothes came out, I was like, “this mug was speaking to me!” And another reason I’m such a big Andy Mineo guy is because we’re going through the same life circumstances at the same time. Like when he came out with Heroes For Sale, man, I was like, ‘This boy is going in right now!” That song, “You Will,” “Caught Dreaming,” “Tug of War.” That “Tug of War” was big too. When he came out with that, I was like, “Man, I can relate to all of it.”

JTH: I think that’s the great part about Christian Hip Hop. Those guys are very transparent, so you really get to see what’s going on in their lives. That means more to folks than hearing these cats rap about money, cars, and women all the time. Christian Hip Hop has meaning.

JP: I’ll tell you how I got introduced. I was at college and my sister – Cross Movement used to come to my church all the time. Ambassador knew my pastor so they would come and do shows. And I remember I was off at school and my sister called me and said, “Hey, you need to go get this guy named Tedashii.” And the first thing I said was, “who is this? What kind of weird name?” I got that Kingdom People album and I listened to that Kingdom People and that song that he did, “Born Again.” When I heard that? I was like, “Yep!” And since then, I’ve been a fan ever since.

JTH: I was told to ask you about your motto.

JP: My motto? My motto is really my tagline name. Pushing Upward. Going Higher.® That can be applied to anything. If I’m out there on the field, and it’s fourth and one, I gotta stop that running back. Let’s go! Sharing my faith with somebody, let’s go! Whatever baby! It’s just something that applies to me and resonates with me. That’s something that I speak to and that I live by.

JTH: I have one final question for you. At the end of your playing career, what do you want people to remember about Jordan Pugh or what do you want them to say about you?

JP: Let’s see. The one thing I’d want them to say is, as an athlete, somebody who was a heck of a player, who played hard and gave everything he got but, most importantly, a stand-up guy. The thing that I’m learning now is that I’d rather be respected as the person that I am rather than the athlete that I am. I didn’t understand that until I’ve had this time as a free agent. And you always hear about how things can come and go but you never understand until you’re sitting here on the outside looking in. I go back to my man, C.J. Wilson. And C.J. was a heck of a football player and a heck of an athlete, but the thing that I remember about C.J. Wilson was the type of guy he is. I watched C.J., and you know, I’m not married yet, but I watch how C.J. treats his wife. His wife is his number one. I watch how he constantly pursues her. He’s constantly teaching and cultivating her. I watch how he works. I watch how he volunteers at his church. I remember C.J. because of the man he is. And that’s how I want to be remembered. I want people, when they say my name, it’s respect. Not because of what I’ve done but because of how I respect people in return.

Check out these videos of Jordan in action: