The Glasgow family’s improbable football journey continued along its unexpected path Saturday afternoon.
Four years after one older brother was drafted and three years after another, Jordan Glasgow became the third member of his family to be selected in the NFL draft.
Glasgow was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round with the No. 213 overall pick, putting another stamp on his family’s legacy.
Glasgow and his older brothers, Graham and Ryan, all joined U-M as walk-ons. They worked their way up the depth chart, earned scholarships, became significant contributors.
“My oldest brother started it out and he was able to grind through it,” Glasgow said after he was drafted during a teleconference Saturday. “Both of my brothers went through it at the same time being only a year apart. And my parents and my grandparents really set us up with that mentality. My parents work very hard at their jobs to put us in a good situation to go to a good high school, to go to a great college, to be able to take a walk-on spot at the University of Michigan and be able to help us pay for tuition.
“They gave us the opportunity and both of my brothers have capitalized on it, and I’ve capitalized on it and I hope to continue to take the opportunity that they gave me and run with it.”
Entering his senior season, Glasgow was a special teams ace and backup defender who bounced between different positions on defense.
This past year, he found a new home at weak-side linebacker – and thrived.
Glasgow started all 13 games, finishing with 89 tackles, seven for loss, five sacks and two pass breakups in 2019.
He said he has talked with Colts linebackers coach Dan Borgonzi and believes he will stick there. He also understands that he was valued for his special teams ability.
“I know that one of the reasons I was drafted was for special teams and I look forward to getting even closer with the special teams coordinator of the Colts and being able to work hand-in-hand with him,” Glasgow said.
Listed at 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, Glasgow is undersized compared to most NFL inside linebackers but believes in his ability to play in the box.
“A lot of teams are looking to go to faster people that have a little more versatility in terms of coverage and in the run game,” he said. “The key is just because you’re smaller, you can’t trade-off in the run game and being able to handle the many things that an offense can throw at you.
“I don’t know what the Colts necessarily think about me in terms of my ability as a three-down linebacker, but I feel like I have the ability to develop into a strong defensive player that can help them going forward.”
Glasgow seemingly beat the odds. He was not projected to be a draft pick and was also not invited to the NFL combine or Senior Bowl.
Still, he felt like there was a chance to be selected based on the “positive things” he was hearing from “a lot of teams.” Glasgow believed that if he were to be drafted, it’d be in the sixth round – specifically toward the end. As it turns out, his prediction was essentially spot-on.
“Even though I went where I thought I was going to go and where I thought I should go, it got me excited and fired up to see how many people were picked before me,” Glasgow said. “How many people NFL teams think are better than me. They may have been better than me in college, but what matters is the work that you put in now going forward.”
Just like his older brothers, Glasgow has spent much of his football career proving people wrong. And he’s looking forward to yet another opportunity to do so.
“I’m used to going through it,” Glasgow said. “I’m used to changing peoples’ minds about me. If someone has a bad opinion about me, I look forward to changing that. I’m just going to try to do the best that I can going forward.”
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