It can be said that Jordan Hazard and his younger brother, Daniel, come from a family where athleticism and competitiveness run through the bloodlines.

Now, the duo’s lives have carved a path from their beginnings in East Providence, R.I., to the football team at Shorter College — and they’re set on making their time playing together as productive as possible.

Jordan and Daniel moved to Marietta from their native Rhode Island in 1997 and attended Sprayberry High School where they both played football.

“I was a freshman at that point and he was a senior so I only got to play with him once,” Daniel said. “Not like this where I’m on the field and he’s on the field at the same time.”

This season, the two are starters for the Hawks as they look to defend their Mid-South Conference Western Division title and were two of the top performers in Shorter’s season-opening loss to Division II Lenoir-Rhyne.

“It feels good,” Jordan said. “In high school, I kind of took on a leadership role on the team and he was just starting to learn but he’s arrived on his own.”

Daniel certainly showed that at the Aug. 29 contest in Hickory, N.C. The sophomore safety had 16 tackles, including five solo tackles, and was named the MSC Defensive Player of the Week.

“I was happy to contribute as much as I could,” Daniel said.

Not to be outdone, Jordan, who transferred to Shorter in the off-season from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, had 156 all-purpose yards.

The senior slotback caught two passes for 74 yards (including a 58-yard touchdown), rushed seven times for 41 yards and returned a pair of kickoffs for a total of 44 more yards.

“The coaching staff are stand-up guys and that just rubs off on the players,” Jordan said, adding that Daniel had told him how the program was very well run.

“Playing with them, I feel like I’ve been playing with them for three or four years now.”

Jordan and Daniel’s dad, Phillip Hazard, played football at Boston College, as did their older brother, Joel. The pair has a sister plus two other brothers that played football and one, Phillip, which was part of the Atlantic 10 4-by-100 meter championship team while at the University of Rhode Island.

“We always have a little bit of a comparison contest as far as who did the most in high school or who has the most accolades,” Daniel said of the atmosphere when his family gets together.

“There was definitively a competitive atmosphere growing up with all of them.”

Coming to Shorter, both Daniel and Jordan talk about their passion to help the Hawks win the conference championship and continue their family’s long-standing tradition of excelling at the highest level of competition.

“I’m 22-years-old but I learn stuff every day and I’ve definitely learned from different people out here,” Jordan said. “They’re defending champions and I’m trying to get up there to help them defend it.”

“We’ve got a lot of speed and a lot of dedication,” Daniel said. “It makes me think that we can do a lot of things this year and hopefully, God willing, we can win the Mid-South Conference.”