“It was really bad,” he says, recalling the garage fire Oct. 6 that gave him second-degree burns on his arms and third-degree burns on his legs. “But I’ve got to deal with it. No point complaining about it now. I’m not embarrassed about it.”

Jordan was one of 20 football players who signed a letter of intent with Oregon on Wednesday.

As many as six of the signees could be at spring ball in April, including prep quarterbacks Darron Thomas and Chris Harper and all-around standout John Boyett.

Jordan, a 6-7 Chandler, Ariz., product, is likely to play receiver in Oregon’s spread offense, since he has wheels, toughness and good hands.

Some thought that Jordan’s career wouldn’t be the same after the fire. His coach was among those.

“He truly is a miracle baby,” Chandler coach Jim Ewan says.

The fiery mishap occurred when Jordan and some friends tried to siphon gas from an old vehicle. The traditional hose-and-sucking method wasn’t moving fast enough, so they tried using a shop vacuum. It worked, but when Jordan went to turn off the vacuum, the spark ignited the vacuum and it exploded.

“Fortunately, we didn’t have a tragedy,” Ewan says. “We’re lucky it wasn’t worse than it was.”

Jordan spent some time in a burn unit and a rehabilitation unit. After having played in six games, he missed the rest of Chandler’s season.

He has built his weight back up to about 215 pounds and started training with the school track and field team. He runs both hurdles and the 400 meters and is on two relays.

“He’s a big wide receiver, à la Jaison Williams,” says UO coach Mike Bellotti, who adds that Jordan has run in the 4.5-second range for the 40-yard dash. “At 6-7, that’s pretty good. He catches the ball, and he’s very aggressive, a physical receiver.”

Jordan turned down offers from Arizona and Arizona State to sign with the Ducks.

He says he’ll have to work on speed and route running to play wide receiver — he played tight end and defensive end in high school.

Bellotti says all the recruited receivers have a chance to play next season.

Jordan first visited Eugene for a track and field meet four years ago. Then he came for a recruiting visit and got hooked even more.

“He’s a real athlete, very coachable, and driven with work ethic,” Ewan says. “He’s one of the most popular kids on campus.”

Jordan reports that he is in full health, except for some healing skin.

“I’m a little pink (skin color),” he says, referring to his hands and forearms and legs below the knee.

“I think about that day almost every day. I mainly just think, if I could have that day back, I’d go back to that early morning and I would just stay in the house.”

QBs have a Dixon flavor

Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was instrumental in recruiting prep quarterbacks Thomas, of Houston, and Harper, of Wichita, Kan., either of whom could give the Ducks a Dennis Dixon-like dimension of running and throwing.

The two QB prospects took their UO visits together, during the Civil War game, and signed knowing that the Ducks still wanted to get highly touted Terrelle Pryor from Jeannette, Pa.

It’s all about opportunity, Thomas and Harper say — the chance to run the UO spread offense and work under Kelly. For Harper, it also was the opportunity to play quarterback, something some other schools wouldn’t give him.

Harper says Michigan, Missouri and Illinois recruited him as a quarterback, while Kansas State, Florida, Notre Dame and Cal talked to him about playing receiver.

The 6-2, 230-pound Harper decommitted from Kansas State because an assistant coach left, and he then signed with the Ducks.

“It was also the opportunity to play right away,” says Harper, who should be in Eugene for spring drills (Thomas already has enrolled).

“I just like having the ball in my hands all the time,” Harper says. “My arm has always been strong. It’s always been about (working on) technique and footwork for me. I’ve got good feet, I’m a natural athlete, but I need to get the dropbacks down.”

Bellotti says Harper will be given every opportunity to play quarterback, even though the newcomer could handle running back or wide receiver.

“Two years ago, I would tell you he was a single-wing quarterback: snap it and run,” says coach Weston Schartz of Wichita’s Northwest High. “He developed into a zone-read quarterback, and he throws the ball a lot better than he did. He throws it well. He has a strong arm, he just hadn’t played enough games (at QB).”

Harper completed 73 percent of his passes last season for 1,550 total yards.

“He’s one of the top (football) athletes in the United States,” Bellotti says. “He needs some growth and maturity throwing, but he has all the physical attributes to play quarterback.”

An expected competition with Thomas awaits.

“It’s good,” Harper says. “That wasn’t too big of a factor. I was looking at the best fit for me. If another school had a better opportunity, I would have went there.”

Harper says he won’t have any difficulty finishing high school and testing to attend Oregon.

The 6-3, 195-pound Thomas immediately struck Bellotti as a Dixon clone — “one of the best compliments I can give him,” the coach says. “Tremendous runner, accurate passer, great leader and great young man.”

Thomas says he passed on offers from LSU (he decommitted) and Florida to play at Oregon.

“(Dixon’s) playing brought me here,” Thomas says. “Good player. His athleticism, throw and run. He’s a little bit faster than me.”

Thomas’ Aldine High team went 4-7 last season but stillmade the playoffs.

“We had a new spread offense,” he says. “I got it. But a lot of my players didn’t get it. I had a better year passing (2,576 yards) and rushing (900 yards). And I’m just going to get better.”

It should help Thomas that he will be in Eugene three months before Harper arrives. Harper is playing, and starring, on his school’s basketball team.

“It’s why I’m here, to get ahead of everybody else,” says Thomas, who believes he can challenge Nate Costa, Justin Roper and Cody Kempt for playing time in 2008.

Ducks snag ‘Mr. Everything’

Boyett played nearly every position in high school, save for offensive and defensive line.

“He’s a Mr. Everything,” Bellotti says.

At Oregon, though, Boyett will focus on playing safety and getting on the field in his rookie season. The Napa, Calif., product enrolled in UO classes early and has been busy playing 7-on-7 with other Ducks.

“It’s faster and more physical than high school ball,” the 5-10, 185-pound Boyett says. “If I play my best, I should be able to get out there, if I learn the defense and adapt.”

Boyett played quarterback (3,354 yards total offense) and safety most of his senior year, after which he garnered San Joaquin section MVP and Northern California MVP from one online publication. He finished in the top five for the “Mr. California” award given by another media outlet, and yet another named him the state’s top player.

Now, “I’ve got to work my way up from the bottom,” Boyett says. “I’m ready to move on. It’s time to move on and adapt to the new environment. Not too many kids are able to (enroll early), because of their academic situations.”

Boyett, who says he had a 3.7 GPA, plans to walk in his high school’s graduation ceremony, though.

“I miss hanging out with friends,” he says.

As far as being ready to play Pac-10 football, “we’ll see, I guess,” he says.

Bellotti says defensive back recruits Boyett, Kenjon Barner and Scott Grady from Tigard could factor into the secondary, or at least on special teams.

And it appears that Jeffrey Maehl will remain at wide receiver, rather than switch back to safety.

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