Michael Jordan's Son Jeffrey Fighting for Playing Time as Illinois Walk-On

A lot of kids grow up around the country with the difficult task of filling their father's shoes in sports, but not many kids have ever known what it's like to be Jeffrey Jordan.

As the son of arguably the best basketball player of all-time, the expectations for him to succeed are quite high.

Jordan has been on radar screens as a prospect since he first started playing in high school, and he attended some high-profile camps and was profiled in Slam Magazine.

But when the time came to choose a school, he had to pick between walking on to a major program and getting a scholarship to a smaller school. The smaller school of Jordan's choice was Valparaiso, and the Crusaders had no problems offering him a scholarship. But in the end, the young Jordan decided to take a chance and walk on to Illinois' roster, embracing the huge challenge of making the playing rotation for the Big Ten power out of Champaign, Illinois.

Jordan cited the Illini's coaches as the main reason for why he picked Illinois, and that's understandable considering that the Illini have been an elite team since coach Bruce Weber took over. Jordan is also a great fit for the Illini's guard-dominated, perimeter-oriented offense. But at the same time, actually getting playing time over the Illini's other guards with be very tough.

Illinois already has Chester Frazier and Jamar Smith as two experienced, versatile, shorter guards who are entrenched in their playing rotation. On top of that, Quinton Watkins and Demitri McMcamey are two higher-rated peers coming to town as freshmen this season along with Jordan.