Pitt receiver up for top award has big following from Poplar Bluff

A pair of Poplar Bluff natives are making the trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship football game Saturday night to see their grandson play.

Lee James Gladney and Tina Blackman-Gladney have been following the Pitt football team the last two seasons to watch No. 3 Jordan Addison, who is the son of their oldest daughter Keisha Blackman-Gladney.

“It is awesome,” Tina said recently by phone from their home in Maryland.

“Even if they get to a bowl game, we will be at the bowl game too.”

Pitt (10-2) faces Wake Forest (10-2) in the ACC championship game (7 p.m. tonight on ABC).

Addison was born in Frederick, Maryland, growing up just outside Washington D.C. where his older brother played football in college and is now working on his master’s degree. When he was 5, Jordan signed up to play Pee-Wee in the same league that produced NFL receiver Stefon Diggs.

In high school where he won a state title in the long jump, Addison’s recruitment picked up after a camp featuring Maryland receivers coach Chris Beatty, who later moved on to Pitt. Notre Dame was also in the mix but wanted the 6-foot Addison to play defensive back.

An all-state player at both positions, Addison wanted to play receiver and ended up at Pitt where he’s having a breakout sophomore season.

Addison is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award presented to the top receiver in college football, along with Purdue’s David Bell and Alabama’s Jameson Williams.

Alabama’s DeVonta Smith won the award last year while past winners include Randy Moss and Larry Fitzgerald with finalists including Dez Bryant and Keyshawn Johnson. The winner will be announced Thursday night at the college football awards show while the 28th annual Biletnikoff Award banquet will be held March 5 in Tallahassee, Florida.

Voters have already cast their ballots and looking at the numbers, Addison has had an outstanding season.

Addison leads the nation in touchdown receptions with 17, four more than Wake Forest’s A.T. Perry and receivers from Ohio State and Alabama. He’s also seventh in total touchdowns (18), tied with Missouri’s Tyler Badie and five others.

Addison ranks fourth in the nation in receiving yards (1,353) and 13th in receptions (85).

Last season as a true freshman, Addison averaged 11.1 yards per catch with 60, scoring four touchdowns.

Addison also returns punts, averaging 14.6 yards per return this season.

Pitt’s two losses were at home to Western Michigan by a field goal and by four at home against Miami after trailing 31-17 at halftime.

Both losses came after solid wins, first winning at Tennessee 41-34 and then beating Clemson 27-17.

The Panthers have won four straight and climbed back to No. 17 in the Associated Press poll. They face 18th-ranked Wake Forest for the ACC title. The two teams have the top-ranked offenses in the conference, each averaging nearly 43 points per game.

“We’re going to enjoy it,” said Tina, a 1980 graduate of Poplar Bluff High School.

Tina’s father and brothers all played baseball or football.

Lee played football and ran track for the Mules, along with his brothers Mark and Jim. Jim Gladney was an All-SEMO running back and defensive back who won the Carr Trophy in 1983, the first from Poplar Bluff to be named the most outstanding player in the conference.

“We started with Mr. Sam Giambelluca,” Lee said. “He was the one that really pushed us to get us to the level that we got as far as sports in Poplar Bluff.”

Even after they moved to Maryland, the Gladneys made sure their five kids and later grandkids knew about the town where the family came from.

“I’m from PB. I bleed Poplar Bluff Mules maroon,” Lee said. “It’s been 41 years but I’m a true Mule, like Wesley Lewis said.”

Which is why Lee is hoping to have a camp in Poplar Bluff this summer featuring his grandson and some Pitt teammates to workout with athletes from Southeast Missouri.

Addison last visited Poplar Bluff when he was 6 or 7, his grandparents said, while they tend to return a few times a year to visit family.

“Our focus is to bring Jordan back to the Bluff and give these kids an opportunity, that way Pitt and Penn State and Maryland come to the Bluff and start recruiting these kids,” Lee said.

“Our main focus is to put the spotlight on the Bootheel.”

This fall, and perhaps even more over the next few days, the spotlight has been on Addison.