Jordan Luallen started his college football career at Georgia Tech, but played his final three seasons at the University of Cincinnati.
Daily Journal file photo
Former Center Grove two-sport athlete Jordan Luallen has great appreciation for the concept of the home team.
Now, perhaps, more than ever.
Luallen, 31, returns to the family’s home in Fort Myers, Florida, at the end of each work day welcomed by his wife, Shelby, and the couple’s three young children — sons Maverick, 4, and Colton, 2, and daughter, Stevie, 3.
These are huddles of which he never tires.
“Being a dad, it’s my favorite thing in the world,” said Luallen, who in 2008 quarterbacked the Trojans to the program’s first football championship, a pulsating 36-33 come-from-behind victory in Class 5A over Carmel at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
“I look forward to every day when they get out of bed, tucking them in at night and everything in-between.”
Luallen, founder and part-owner of X3 Performance and Physical Therapy, has been in business for a year in Fort Myers, officially opening its doors in January. His title at X3 is director of performance and operations/director of facilities, responsibilities that allow Luallen to explore the entrepreneurial aspects of his chosen career path.
The business has a second state-of-the-art location in Nashville, Tennessee.
Among Luallen’s current list of clients are high school athletes, 13 National Football League players, one hockey goalie, beach volleyball players and someone playing professional men’s basketball in Japan. Another recent client is former Center Grove and Kansas State defensive back Russ Yeast, who this past spring was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL Draft.
Luallen, a 2009 Center Grove graduate, continues to implement the lessons and discipline instilled in him while playing football and running track for coach Eric Moore.
“It’s a way for me to give back the way coach Moore and the coaches there poured into me,” Luallen said. “The reason I do this is because of people like coach Moore and all the time he put into shaping me as an athlete and as a man.
“He saw something in me when I was 10-years old. He probably saw a kid who had a competitive spirit. Without him taking the interest that he took, I wouldn’t be where I am.”
Where Luallen was nearly 14 years ago was in Lucas Oil Stadium attempting to help the Trojans figure a way out of a 33-14 sinkhole against Carmel with only one quarter to play.
The events that ensued — the Trojans recovering two on-sides kicks on their way to 22 points in the game’s final 8 minutes, 18 seconds — have grown into gridiron legend in Indiana. Luallen completed 13 of 20 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown and ran the ball for a pair of touchdowns.
Luallen, who ran hurdles and the 4×100 and 4×400 relays in track, attended Georgia Tech for football, but transferred after one year to the University of Cincinnati. He would play seven different positions for the Bearcats before finally getting the opportunity to return to quarterback late in his career.
After receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Cincinnati, Luallen began blazing his strength and conditioning trail, first at Franklin Road Academy, and, more recently, as performance director at Boost Performance in Nashville. In-between, he worked for the Washington (then)-Redskins in the NFL and as director of strength and conditioning at Tennessee State University.
Every change, be it job title, living location and those he works with, have been crucial life stair steps in placing Luallen where he is today.
He no longer thinks about the magical November evening in Indy in which, some say, Center Grove football turned sharply from respected football program to the powerhouse it’s since become.
Luallen’s focuses are family and work — in that order.
He remains close to Moore, referring to his former coach as a second father.
“My former players are the only reason I coach,” said Moore, who says he talks to or texts Luallen at least once every few weeks. “It’s a special meaning with Jordan because he started at quarterback for us as a sophomore, and his goals were amazing. He was a great team player who expected everyone to get to his level.
“The No. 1 thing is we hope we raise good men, and Jordan is a good man. But his mom and dad had a lot to do with that.”
