Jordan Lucas, the outside hitter for Cal State Northridge’s men’s volleyball team, has achieved what many college athletes dream of: going viral. His secret? A combination of animated celebrations - hair flicks, dismissive waves - and, you know, being really good at volleyball. “I think people are really enamored with me because you don’t often see someone like me - animated, flamboyant - but still able to back it up on the volleyball court,” Lucas told The Guardian. And he’s not wrong.
College volleyball has its fans - 92,000 of them showed up to watch Nebraska take on Omaha in 2023 - but it’s not exactly NFL territory. That changed last month when clips of Lucas’s “flamboyant” play went viral, amassing millions of views. College athletes going viral is nothing new: Paige Bueckers, Harper Murray, Olivia Dunne, and Shedeur Sanders all had their moments. But Lucas’s case is different. It’s not just about the highlights; it’s about the conversation. Lucas is gay, and that fact has become inseparable from how audiences engage with his game. Navigating the fallout, he says, has been a career of its own.