Practice is over for the Profs, however, senior captain Joshua Ortiz remains on the field, getting some extra sprints in to boost his conditioning.

His drive and leadership are some of the many factors that have impressed first-year head coach, and former leader of the Profs defense himself, Pat Ruley.

“He’s an elder statesman, he knows what the expectations are,” Ruley said.

It’s still early in the season for the new-look Rowan University football team, but Ortiz is looking to soak it all in during his last ride with the Profs.

Ortiz is one of the anchors in the trenches of the defensive line for the Profs. He has consistently provided strong performances during his four years here at Rowan, showing up as a bright spot even through previous seasons where the team didn’t reach the heights they wanted.  

Ortiz didn’t initially start his collegiate career at Rowan though, as he was originally recruited to play for the Susquehanna University River Hawks, whose defensive coordinator was none other than Rowan’s current Head Coach Pat Ruley, which meant Ruley was already familiar with Ortiz long before he became the eighth head coach in the program’s history in June of this year.

“Funny enough, a lot of people don’t know this, while I was at Susquehanna that’s actually where Josh started his career,” Ruley said. “I recruited him out of high school as the defensive coordinator at Susquehanna. He came to Susquehanna as a COVID freshman for that fall semester, and obviously, that was a weird time for everybody.”

Ortiz only went to Susquehanna for the fall semester of his freshman year before taking the Spring semester off, returning home to New Jersey to play football for the Profs during the 2021 season. Ortiz, who was a star multi-sport athlete at Highland Regional in Blackwood, felt Rowan’s proximity to his home was key in determining where he wanted to continue his athletic and educational journey.

“This is basically my hometown in a way, I live fifteen minutes away, so in a sense, this is like home to me,” Ortiz said.

Ruley believes there are a lot of definitions that can define what a captain is, whether they are vocal or they lead by example, and he believes that Ortiz falls in between that line as a leader for the Profs.

“Some guys are more of vocal leaders, some guys are more lead by example, I think Josh is somewhere in between,” Ruley said. “He’s not the loudest guy by any means, but if he needs to have a conversation with somebody that’s what I’m looking for. We talk about it all the time, like being a captain or leader, those things aren’t easy. You gotta have tough conversations with people, the guys you’re probably closest with on the team.” 

“We have something building up here,” Ortiz said. “We have a new head coach this year, being named captain as one of the first captains under Coach Ruley, it means a lot, it’s really special.” 

Ortiz is interested in coaching after his playing career at Rowan is over, but he isn’t ready to look towards the future while he’s a part of potentially the most competitive team he’s played on during his collegiate career.

“We’re three games in going on four, it’s still the beginning of the season,” Ortiz said. “I’m very confident in this team. I’m very confident this week coming up against [Johns] Hopkins. I think the guys are gonna rally and we’re gonna roll from there.

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