Jordyn Adams has no regrets about how his pro baseball career went down.
The former North Carolina high school phenom — once rated the top baseball prospect in the state and a first-round MLB draft pick — was released by the Milwaukee Brewers in May after an eight-year, mostly minor-league career.
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It didn’t take long for Adams to find a landing spot, though the shape of the ball he’s now catching is quite different.
Days after his MLB release, Adams signed with SMU as a wide receiver — a position at which he excelled in high school — joining a Mustangs squad two years removed from a College Football Playoff appearance.
He’s once again a freshman — though now 26 years old — and for the first time, a college athlete
Once among the highest-ranked football prospects in the country, Adams spent the past eight years away from organized football. after skipping straight to pro baseball out of high school. Now, the two-sport wunderkind has embraced his unconventional journey back to the sport he once dazzled scouts in.
“It kind of goes hand-in-hand, catching a baseball in the outfield and catching a football as a receiver,” Adams said.
Adams played football and baseball at Blythewood High in South Carolina before transferring to Green Hope High School in Cary, North Carolina, and was immediately one of the state’s top prep athletes.
As a senior in 2017-18, Adams racked up 54 receptions for 1,060 yards and 12 touchdowns, leading Green Hope to a 10-3 record and Triangle-6 Conference championship. That spring, he batted .474 with 72 hits and 33 RBIs as a center fielder and shortstop.
Colin Fegeley, Green Hope’s athletic director at the time who is now the AD at Cary’s Green Level High School, said Adams was one of the most gifted athletes he’s ever seen.
“He could score a touchdown just about every time he touched the ball,” Fegeley said.
He said Adams’ plan was to play football and baseball in college, something few schools would let him do.
Fegeley also expected MLB teams to take a swing at Adams in the later rounds.
At the 2018 National High School Invitational, though, his draft stock soared. Scouts fell in love with Adams’ speed and defensive ability. He became the No. 1 baseball prospect in North Carolina.
“It’s always fun when it’s mid-afternoon and you’re fielding calls from the Yankees and the Cubs,” Fegeley said.
Adams had also been the third-ranked wide receiver recruit in the country, a top five that included future NFL superstars Amon-Ra St. Brown and Ja’Marr Chase. During the NCAA football signing period, the five-star prospect signed with North Carolina amid a slew of blue blood offers, also believing he could play baseball at UNC.
He never played a down — or an inning — with the Tar Heels.
Instead, the Los Angeles Angels drafted Adams with the 17th pick in the 2018 MLB Draft. The Angels offered something college football programs could not at the time — a guaranteed salary.
Opting for the $4.1 million contract, Adams decommitted from UNC and chose a career in professional baseball.
“The opportunity presented itself first in baseball,” he said. “That’s why I took that chance.”
Adams bounced around the minor leagues before making his MLB debut with the Angels in 2023.
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He spent time with Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers organizations before he was released in May.
“I did everything my childhood self wanted to do in the sport of baseball,” Adams said.
Adams ended his MLB career with 79 plate appearances and 13 hits. His only major-league home run came in 2024 — a 418-foot solo shot at Target Field in Minneapolis.
Fegeley has stayed in touch with Adams throughout his baseball career, catching his games when he was nearby playing against the Triple-A Durham Bulls.
He said he’s excited to see Adams return to football after eight years away from the game.
“I’m very curious to see what he looks like,” Fegeley said. “But there’s no doubt he has the talent for it and the drive.”
Adams was born on Oct. 18, 1999 in Gulfport, Mississippi. His father, Deke, was the linebackers coach at Pearl River Community College, which is about 50 miles north.
Deke Adams, a former linebacker at Southern Mississippi, was a journeyman assistant coach who bounced around several Division I programs.
Jordyn began playing tee-ball when he was three. It wasn’t until late middle school until he began playing football.
It remained an important part of his life throughout his baseball career.
“Even when I wasn’t playing organized football, I always had a football in my hand,” he said.
Adams said he wasn’t determined on returning to football. It just happened to work out.
Now married and with a 17-month-old son, Adams wanted to earn a college degree in business or sports marketing to help support his family.
Adams said he was mostly focused on gaining an education — retuning to football was an option, but not a must.
Until SMU offered him a football scholarship.
“If the shoe fits, I’ll do it,” he said.
Dual-sport athletes making a career pivot isn’t unprecedented. Quarterback Chris Weinke famously led Florida State to a national championship in 1997 after a seven-year baseball career and later played in the NFL, including six seasons with the Carolina Panthers.
Brandon Weeden enrolled at Oklahoma State in 2007 after minor-league baseball stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, later becoming the oldest first-round draft pick in NFL history at 28 years old.
Adams is aware of his unique background, and the fact he’s eight years older than the typical college freshman. He said he’d be more than open to an NFL career if the opportunity would arise.
As for baseball, maybe Adams wasn’t the most prolific first-round draft pick. He would not have had it any other way.
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“I can close that chapter happy,” he said.