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Hokie football twins, Jayden and Jorden McDonald, are quick to roll their eyes at how everyone expects them to be the same. While the 2021 Salem High School grads, as identical twins, sure do look the same (and sound the same, much to the chagrin of my interview audio), they are different enough, in all the fun ways.
“He eats stuff that I wouldn’t touch,” #38 linebacker Jayden offers. And #39 defensive line Jorden agrees, “And he eats stuff that I wouldn’t touch!”
The two spent their early years playing recreational peewee football in Greensboro, N.C., before moving to Virginia in the 6th grade. A not-so-fun way they differed was as opposing forces vying for the same spotlight.
“We didn’t like each other. It was a love/hate relationship. We were competitive about everything to the point it got toxic,” Jayden says. Now, of course, with maturity and perspective, they laugh about it. Jorden agrees: “That’s really all it was … just … competition.”
Their mom, Sharon Jennings, adds: “As they got older and mature, they began to help each other and hold one another accountable on the football field. They would call each other out on anything and everything that the other one was doing wrong.”
Coming to Virginia Tech
With no choice but to play football together in high school, when it came time to decide on a collegiate program, they were still insistent on staying together. As boyhood Carolina fans, they had eyes on UNC and Duke. But that changed when the Hokies played North Carolina at home in 2019 and won after six overtimes. “It was an eye opener,” Jayden reveals. “When we got the offer [from Virginia Tech], we took it.”
Jennings adds: “We told them during recruitment, you two have always been together, and there is no need to separate now. Jayden and Jorden were a package deal. Virginia Tech ended up their dream school. It makes us happy seeing them both live out this dream.”
These days their childhood competitive fire has dialed down a bit. They play different positions and admit it’s now mostly about encouragement and motivation. They want to perform well for the team, but there is an extra spark to perform well for each other.
“We feed off each other’s energy,” Jayden offers. “When he makes a play, I get excited. And vice versa. If we’re having a bad day, we’re able to pick each other up and encourage one another.”
When asked if they thought their connection gave them a slight advantage on the field, they exchanged a quick glance that seemed to represent a whole conversation that only those who once shared a womb would understand, and then diplomatically answered the question.
“As a team we all feel like brothers anyway. But at the end of the day, we are more connected,” Jayden gestures toward his twin brother. “We’ve been with each other since we were born, and we need to have each other’s back.”
“We know we have someone dependable in our corner. As far as the team, everyone has that, it’s a brotherhood here. But outside of the team, we’ve been with each other through everything,” Jorden states.
Young Athletic Twins
Photos courtesy of the McCoy family
Hattee and Marlee McCoy are 5-year-old fraternal twins at the beginning of the journey, feeling out how to be a distinctive athlete and a twin at the same time. Having an older, sports-minded brother has instilled an early sense of competition.
“Our son puts a fire in them to be competitive, but they’re not at the crazy stage with it. They play the same sport but play differently. They have dissimilar strengths and weaknesses,” Mom Alicia says. “They’re very independent, but also rely on each other. They have separate friends, but then they always come back together.”
Marlee is the quieter, sensitive one (and a righty). Hattee is more business, more mother-hen (lefty). But what happens when one of them makes a great play – maybe even a hypothetical home run. “Do you give each other a high-five or a hug?” “No,” Hattee is certain with her tough-love approach, “I just watch.” Marlee, however, happily admits she would give Hattee a hug when she comes across home plate.
Hokie Fans and Hokie Players
While the McCoy girls are looking forward to kindergarten and their second season of Little League® Coach Pitch, the McDonald twins are heading into their third full season as Hokie football players. Hattee and Marlee plan to attend every football game, as they do every season, and Dad McCoy adds: “They always have their eyes on where the Hokie bird is.”
After all, for the McCoy twin girls and two twin Tech men alike, this is home and Hokies are family. “The environment here and our values align with Virginia Tech. We are all about family. I love that about this place,” Jayden says. Jorden agrees: “It strengthens us.”
What are the McDonald twins looking forward to the most this season? Cue an exclusive womb-based glance again … however, this time they chose to share out loud … “championship.”
Being around twins is like perpetually being on the outside of an inside joke. But if the punch line is, in fact, “championship,” I think we’d be A-OK with that joke being on us.
Text by Nancy Moseley
Photos by Jon Fleming
Photos by Jon Fleming
Nancy S. Moseley is a freelance writer from Blacksburg who has interviewed all sorts of folks, in all sorts of emotional, physical and professional realities, but never twins. It’s not the easiest thing, people.
