As a hard-hitting safety, Jordan Simone was easy to spot tracking opposing running backs and receivers from sideline-to-sideline. Now in his second season as Arizona State’s radio sideline reporter, his passion for the game is easy spot Saturday’s in the fall for his alma mater.
“I just try to have fun with the broadcast and bring my own personality,” he explained to Sports360AZ.com. “Because that’s what really separates you in this industry and really in any industry. If you can just be yourself and a bring a knowledge and an expertise to it, I think you can always be successful.”
Simone attributes much of his early broadcasting success to his veteran Sun Devil radio partners, Tim Healey and Jeff van Raaphorst.
“He had, what I guess you could call, the “it” factor,” Healey said with a wry grin high above Rice-Eccles Stadium last weekend in Salt Lake City. “There’s something about him…he obviously knows the game. He was a good player here for Coach [Todd] Graham from 2013-15.”
After transferring from Washington State and walking on in Tempe, Simone garnered All Pac-12 honors despite battling seemingly endless injuries. Those same issues cut short his NFL career after making several positive pre-season impressions with his hometown team the Seattle Seahawks.
He returned to Arizona and was hired as the sideline reporter before the 2018 season after Derek Hagan left to become an offensive analyst on Herm Edwards’ staff last fall.
The outgoing and well-liked Simone, who also co-hosts the ASU pre-game show with Jeff Munn on game days, is a perfect fit of both football smarts and entertainment.
“Just [try] to bring my knowledge and expertise from playing to the listeners,” Simone said. “So every time I see a defensive play, I have some knowledge that I can give to fans at home.”
He knows more experience in the position will allow him to grow in the broadcasting field but there’s one thing which will never be a problem for Jordan Simone.
“Big thing with Jordan is just his personality,” van Raaphorst said. “How do you leverage his personality because he’s so fun.”
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Eric Sorenson
A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.