The Silent Sensation : West Covina’s Clyde Jordan Lets Actions on the Court Speak for Him : Prep Basketball: The heavily-recruited point guard averages 18 points a game and 10 rebounds.

Since he arrived in high school as a freshman, West Covina point guard Clyde Jordan has never been one to talk a good game.

In fact, he is one of the least talkative players on the basketball team. Coach Ed Coyle describes him as shy and introverted.

But on the court, the 17-year-old senior does not have to say much to make his presence felt.

“I’m more of a leader on the court,” Jordan says. “I don’t like to talk too much except when I really need to--like when we’re losing. Then I might say something.”

At 6-6 and a lean 175 pounds, Jordan has always let his actions speak louder than words.

“He’s one of those players who just leads by his ability,” Coyle said. “He’s not a vocal player, but we all know he’s there.”

Of course, it is difficult to ignore a 6-6 point guard who averages 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists a game.

Coyle said it is Jordan’s all-around offensive skills that make him such a valuable asset to the Bulldogs, who are in first place in the Sierra League with a 14-5 overall record and are ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section 5-A Division.

“He’s a player who can do a lot of things for you,” Coyle said. “As a guard you have to have a lot of versatility, and he has that. He just makes things happen. He’s very good at getting us into our offense.”

In his three years of varsity basketball, Jordan has never led the team in scoring. Forward Sherrod Belton leads the Bulldogs this season with a 21.8-point average and West Covina has two other players who are scoring in double figures.

“Talentwise, he stands out quite a bit, but it’s not like he’s trying to do it all by himself,” Coyle said. “We have other players who can carry the load, too.”

For that matter, Jordan says, scoring points has not always been his prime objective.

“I try to be more of an all-around player,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me not to score all the time.”

It is not Jordan’s scoring ability that has made him one of the top college prospects in the San Gabriel Valley.

“He’s a very good perimeter shooter and a good penetrator,” Coyle said. “But I think what makes him so valuable is his passing. He makes some great passing decisions, especially on fast breaks.

“He’s getting highly recruited because he’s a 6-6 guard and an excellent passer. He can throw the long pass as well as anyone I’ve seen at this level.”

Recruiters also like the fact that Jordan is not restricted to playing point guard in college. Coyle said Jordan can play any number of positions in college.

“It just depends on which system the college runs,” Coyle said. “He can fill a lot of roles. That’s just another thing colleges like. He can play either point guard, shooting guard or small forward in college. But he just needs to have the ball in his hands to be productive.”

Jordan has played every position since he started playing youth basketball in the fourth grade, when he was a center.

“Back then I was taller than everybody else,” he recalled. “So when I was in elementary school I was the center. But that was only because of my size.”

When Jordan played at West Covina as a freshman on the junior varsity team, it was as a forward. He was a shooting guard on the varsity until he made the move to point guard toward the end of last season.

Whatever position he has played in high school, it has always been as a starter.

“As a freshman, I knew he was going to be a pretty good player,” Coyle said. “Then as a sophomore he did a really good job for us. He fit right in at the three spot (small forward).”

Jordan averaged 4.9 points and four rebounds as a sophomore and 16 points and 10 rebounds as a junior, when he earned All-Sierra League honors.

Not that Jordan didn’t have doubts about himself when he started playing in high school.

“It was mostly my dribbling and ball handling,” Jordan said. “I wasn’t too hot with the ball back then. I think I’m better all-around now. I’m more comfortable with myself.”

Coyle said Jordan can still stand to make improvements in areas of his game.

“He’s going to have to work on his quickness,” he said. “He’s not real quick on his feet but he has such long arms. That makes a big difference. He also needs to improve on his defense. That’s his biggest weakness.

“But he has excellent offensive skills. Offensively, I’m very pleased with what he’s done, what he’s doing and what he’s going to do.”

At this point, college recruiters appear to be more than willing to overlook any weaknesses that Jordan might have as a player.

He said he has been recruited by numerous NCAA Division I programs but the schools that seem most interested at the moment are Oregon, Oregon State, Kansas and Cal State Fullerton. He said he has been recruited as both a shooter and a point guard.

As a senior, he said, the attention he has received from college recruiters has risen considerably, although it has not been as difficult for him lately.

“It’s slowed down a lot,” Jordan said. “It used to be a lot more but I told them (recruiters) to call me only on certain days and not on school days because I have schoolwork and other things I have to do.”

For the moment, Jordan said he is trying to keep the constant attention of recruiters in perspective.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” he said. “I just do what I have to do and I’ll worry about it when the time comes.”

Jordan is more concerned about helping the Bulldogs win the Sierra League title and reach the Southern Section playoffs.

He has bad memories of post-season play the last two years when his team was eliminated in the first round. Two seasons ago, he played at Edgewood--the last season before the school merged with cross-town rival West Covina--and his team suffered a 72-69 loss to Bloomington in the first round of the 2-A playoffs. Last season at West Covina, it was a 68-60 setback to Indio in the opening round of the 5-A playoffs.

“That’s the second time in a row that happened to me,” Jordan said. “We don’t want that to happen again this year. We want to win the league title and go from there.”

That is one subject that Jordan doesn’t mind talking about.