Remember that viral video of the Penn State fan who paid $1,800 to lead the Nittany Lions out of the tunnel against USC in October?

In case you don’t remember, Jordan Mott, a fourth-generation Penn State alumnus, was decked out in Penn State gear from head to toe. He and his wife Claire were the only Penn State fans in the tunnel filled with gold and cardinal red as Mott led the Nittany Lions onto the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum field with his Insta360 camera in hand.

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“I was talking to their director of marketing and I was like, ‘Have you guys ever had opposing teams fans sign up to do this before?’ and she’s like, ‘No, we haven’t,'” Mott said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that makes this even more awesome.'”

To Mott’s surprise, the video went viral days later. It received thousands of views on his Instagram and it was even featured in posts by The Checkdown, Rivals.com, and the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. He even received a FaceTime call from James Franklin about the prank, and USC Athletics also changed its gameday package requirements.

The website now reads: “All participants must be in USC apparel to partake in Game Day Experiences. USC Athletics reserves the right to remove individuals who are not compliant.”

“It was crazy,” Mott said. “We have a lot of friends who work for the [San Fransisco] 49ers or the San Jose Sharks, and it was the talk amongst every sports organization of ‘How do we prevent something like this from happening?’ So, that’s one of the funniest parts of it all to me.”

To this day, Mott still gets emails from USC Athletics asking him to donate to its Trojan Fund.  

“I just laugh at them every time they come in, and I’m like, wrong person, wrong audience,” Mott said. 

Mott’s clever and witty prank is well documented with the many stories written about him, but what isn’t as well documented are his roots connected to Penn State and the ripple effect of his video.

The 32-year-old is one of the country’s youngest and most successful realtors and is now running for a position on Penn State’s Board of Trustees. After his video went viral, he started to be involved in Happy Valley United, which has led to other “once in a lifetime” opportunities.

Mott’s Penn State roots started decades before he was born. With his great grandfather, grandfather, father, and uncle all being Penn State alumni, Mott was born into a legacy of Penn Staters. He was born and raised in California and lived in several different spots around the Bay Area, where he grew up watching the Nittany Lions.

The first time Mott visited Happy Valley was when he was in middle school. He still remembers watching the Nittany Lions in Beaver Stadium and visiting the Berkey Creamery. Although he also applied to San Diego State in high school, Mott knew Penn State was always the place for him.

“There was never a choice in regards to where I was going to school based off of, for lack of better terms, the brainwashing that transpired since I was born,” Mott joked.

Football has always been a part of Mott’s life. From watching it on TV as a kid to becoming the starting quarterback and team captain at Santa Clara High School, he wanted to continue playing when he arrived at State College.

Mott tried out to walk on to the football team in 2010 but as a 6’0″, less than 200-pound quarterback, he didn’t make the cut.

“I remember calling my mom afterward, and she’s like, ‘I don’t understand why you didn’t make it. You were so good in high school,'” Mott said. “She came out one weekend, and I was friends with a bunch of the football players, and I introduced her, and then I remember her saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you didn’t play here. You’d get killed.'”

Although he didn’t make the team, Mott still attended home games as a student and delved into student life by joining the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, the Penn State Real Estate Association, the Centre County Investment Club, and was involved with THON.

Mott originally studied criminology to pursue a career in law enforcement but decided to double major and started studying advertising/public relations. However, Mott’s Penn State experience flipped during the spring semester of his freshman year.

In March 2011, the first story of the Jerry Sandusky investigation broke. Joe Paterno was then fired in November and the football program was hit with NCAA sanctions in July 2012.

“I would have never envisioned a room full of gentlemen in my fraternity huddled around the TV screen in tears just watching the reputation of their university being torn to shreds,” Mott said. “But that was part of the experience. I remember that for a whole week when you’d go to class, you’d just be surrounded by reporters and news vans.”

Paterno died after his battle with lung cancer in January 2012, and Mott remembers attending the memorial service.

“I remember the procession of him, and the streets being lined with everyone,” Mott said. “I still look back on those photos and the statue surrounded by flowers and gifts and basically acting as a memorial at that point. It was a very interesting time to be there.”

Mott graduated early in 2013 with both degrees and decided to work in real estate. He was inspired to do so when he took an internship in Bangkok, Thailand, during his junior year.

He started working 100- to 120-hour work weeks, dropping flyers on people’s doorsteps at 4 a.m. and was the first one in and last one out of the office. After over nine years at Intero Real Estate Services, Mott says he’s now in the top .001% of realtors nationwide, and according to his website, he has sold over $700 million worth of real estate in his career.

“To me, it’s not rocket science,” Mott said. “For the majority of people, you’re handling what their largest asset is. So I think operating with a consumer-first mindset and making sure that you’re always having that person’s best interest in heart, and every action that’s taken throughout any transaction is focused on what is best for the client.”

Mott recently received enough nominations from alumni to potentially join Penn State’s Board of Trustees. He is gathering letters of recommendation and additional documents and submitting a formal application to the board. Mott will then go through an interview process with the board’s committee, and if all works out, he will appear on the ballot in April.

Mott approaches this opportunity with his realtor’s mindset. His goal, if elected, is to be as involved with the university as much as he possibly can and keep its best interest in mind.

To him, that means looking out for not only the university itself but also the current students, prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, and those involved in the Penn State community who might not have graduated from the university.

“I think it’s important to take all those subsets into consideration when any decision is made,” Mott said. “I truly believe that Penn State is one of the best academic environments and culture environments in the entire country, if not the entire world, and I want to do my part to continue that journey and make sure that it stays that way for everybody else moving forward.”

Mott has also recently been involved with Happy Valley United, Penn State’s name, image, and likeness fund. He was introduced to it after his video went viral and attended every event during the football season, after that point.

He also attended big games like the Big Ten Championship, the home playoff game against SMU, the Fiesta Bowl, and the Orange Bowl. Mott even donated $100,000 to Happy Valley United and is becoming increasingly involved with the organization.

“Yeah, as much as I can be involved,” Mott said. “Not only on the financial commitment level, doing my part to support our student-athletes at Penn State, but also trying to get my input on things as much as possible on whatever could be successful.”

While attending the SMU game, Mott said he and his wife had “a plethora of experiences that are truly once in a lifetime.” They were part of the team’s arrival at Beaver Stadium, met Franklin in person, and most importantly, led the “We Are” chant in the second quarter.

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“That was nothing that I would have ever expected to happen in my lifetime, and to be honest, I think I kind of blacked out a little bit,” Mott said. “I remember walking over to my wife afterward, and I’m like, ‘Oh shit. Did I say thank you at the end? I didn’t screw that up, did I?'”

“But it was definitely an exhilarating feeling being on the field with 100,000 plus in attendance,” he added.

His father even called him after the game to congratulate him on his experience.

“My dad thought it was awesome,” Mott said. “He was like, ‘Your grandparents are smiling down on you watching this all happen.’ So yeah, once in a lifetime, no doubt.”