Football jail.

There’s no sugar-coating what life was like for two seasons at Independence (Kan.) Community College for Jesse Ornelas, the Pirates’ former recruiting coordinator portrayed in ‘Last Chance U’ Season 3 who now handles the same duties at Iowa Central.

The closest thing to hell in the JUCO coaching ranks, Indy was an ambitious locale for filmmakers of the Emmy-nominated Netflix docu-series after two years in East Mississippi.

“You just kind of stick it out and do your time,” Ornelas told 247Sports. “What you see on camera, that’s what I lived for two years.”

Ornelas initially landed at struggling Indy in 2016 as a free volunteer, a foot-in-the-door opportunity from head coach Jason Brown — a loose-lipped former quarterback from Compton, California, who torched every bridge he crossed — his words — thanks to an abrasive personality.

“I got there during recruiting season in January and as soon as I get there, my task was to set up official visit day,” Ornelas said. “It goes good, then I get offered a job back home in Chicago making $50,000 a year coaching high school football and being a security guard. So I tell coach Brown, ‘I’m out. I appreciate the opportunity but I can’t work for nothing.’”

Ornelas interviewed for the job back home at his mother’s urging, got it, then received a call from Brown asking for his return.

“He offered me $12,000,” Ornelas said. “I was like, ‘Do I want to coach high school football or college football?’ When it came down to it, I made the move to come back to Independence.”

Ornelas was handed some Indy apparel, limited phone usage and below-average food and was expected to land the best JUCO prospects in the country — and he did so despite noticeable limitations. He was instrumental in landing Texas A&M running back Rakeem Boyd, talented wideout Calvin Jackson and current top-ranked JUCO player Jermaine Johnson, who will play at Indy in 2018.

Ornelas says pitching the idea of a school in the middle of nowhere to athletes looking for a second chance was a challenge, especially when there were bigger, more successful JUCOs recruiting the same kids.

“We had the least resources of anybody in the country,” Ornelas said. “It’s difficult. You have to just kind of get those guys to buy into you as a coach and what you’re going to do for them in recruiting. When push comes to shove when everything is one the line that kid needs something to eat, or that kid is home sick, are you going to take care of that kid? That’s the difference in JUCO recruiting and that’s kind of how we made our mark. The recruits have to believe in you, not necessarily the program you work for or the school.

"Once you get those guys on a personal level, you (got them). Jermaine Johnson, they have the No. 1 player in the country there right now. I knew he was going to pick us when he was face-timing me every night. That’s when you know. While I was recruiting Calvin Jackson, it got to the point where he was texting and calling me all the time more than I was contacting him. That’s when you know. I wish (filmmakers) would have kind of shined a light on. You’re in your office talking to a kid who has his whole future ahead of him, and they just want to go home because they’re tired of it. You have man to man talks and that stuff wasn’t (shown on TV).”

Ornelas balked at the notion there was any “free time” at Indy. There’s no real offseason or time away in the JUCO ranks, he says, and moments of freedom revolved around bus rides to away games and playing spades with fellow coaches.

It was as monotonous and dry as it sounds. ‘Last Chance U’ filmmakers focused very little on the day-to-day coaching aspects of the job and more on players as individuals. Ornelas wasn’t featured nearly as much as other assistant coaches in Season 3 despite being one of the few to hold two titles as Indy’s recruiting coordinator and running backs coach.

“I was ok with that,” Ornelas said. “If you were going to film me, you were going to work hard at that. There were things that needed to be done that I needed to do to get my players to perform. Rakeem didn’t like being in front of the cameras. I didn’t like being in front of the cameras, so we did some things privately. Me and him had a good understanding that if we had any differences, we’d figure it out when the (cameras) were not around.

“I thought that was the best way for me and the best way for him to handle the situation, because I was uncomfortable in front of the cameras for sure.”

As running backs coach, Ornelas had a wealth of talent in the backfield and juggled carries between four ballcarriers, most notably Boyd, former Michigan signee Kingston Davis and Jamal Scott. The depth made decision-making much easier.

“I would tell the guys, ‘If you don’t want to practice hard today, that’s fine, we have enough talent to get the job done. There’s only one person who can carry the ball,’” Ornelas said. “Nobody did well out the gate (during 2017 season). We got whooped. We rushed the ball for negative 8 yards on 12 carries. Then, Jamal Scott came on and had over 100 yards. In Game 3 against Garden City, he got NJCAA National Player of the Week that week. So Jamal goes off for two games, then he gets hurt.

“I didn’t start Rakeem until Game 5 and he had 1,300 yards in seven games. Before that, I had a freshman go off, Scott for a couple games, so that kind of let them know, ‘OK, someone here is going to ball out. Be ready when your name is called.'”

Boyd signed with Arkansas in January and has added noticeable muscle during his time in Fayetteville, Ornelas says.

“He’s the real deal,” Ornelas said. “He’s got something you can’t coach. I can’t coach him how to be a better running back. What I can coach him on is what he should be looking at and the Xs and Os. At practice, I would whoop his butt and make sure he’s in shape. I would always joke and tell him, ‘I’ve got thoroughbreds bro.’ If you look at real-life thoroughbreds, they’re not sitting in the stable. They’re out running. Getting stronger. My guys were getting stronger as the year went by because they needed to … they were horses.”

What Netflix cameras didn’t show were the days coaches pondered quitting, growing tired of life in the barracks and everything that encompassed football hell, Ornelas said. But Brown was often featured as the main attraction, a boisterous personality that made for talking points amongst viewers, similar to Season 1 and 2’s profile on head coach Buddy Stephens at EMCC.

There’s one memorable scene highlighting Brown’s demeanor and lack of respect for his staff as he berates his quarterbacks coach for not ensuring Malik Henry, the team’s starter, makes it to class on time. Brown slams multiple doors, returns for another verbal lashing, then leaves the coaches' office disgusted. That was the gig at Indy.

“We were all in there … I remember that day,” Ornelas said. “He was going at it.”

Ornelas has no regrets about his stint at Indy and says he’s excited to be on the other sideline against the Pirates next season. He is amped to play one of the best teams in the JUCO ranks.

“Everybody can say what they want, but we won,” Ornelas said. “As coaches, we wore that as badge of honor. Despite everything, we still did something and made history. That’s what we wanted to portray. We still won. I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my time at Indy. (Iowa Central) was a chance to get closer to home (in Chicago). I wanted to learn from some different people. I just wanted to give myself another opportunity to do something different.”

The second longest-tenured coach on Brown’s staff before leaving, Ornelas says his current situation is the best of his coaching career as he continues the never-ending grind of finding players and convincing them to sign.

“I always tell my guys here this ain’t JUCO where I’m at right now,” Ornelas said, laughing. “There’s more scholarship money. The campus is better. The cafeteria is better. This place is run like a true business. They win national championships in every sport."

It certainly sounds more appealing than football jail.