Daily Short #165, May 4th, 2018: PLAYER AUDIT: Brandon Jones
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Player Audit
Player Name: Brandon Jones
From Texas Athletics (2018 - Junior)
A third-year defensive back who has played in 24 career games with 13 starts ... was an All-American and two-time all-state honoree ... played in the 2016 Under Armour All-America Game.
As a recruit
The 2016 recruiting class in Texas was highlighted at the very top by OT Greg Little, who is slated to be an early pick in the 2019 NFL draft as well as DT Ed Oliver who is projected to possibly be the first-overall selection at that very same event. Still, the story of the class for many, at the time, was the three-headed Texas monster at safety consisting of Eric Monroe, Deontay Anderson and Brandon Jones, all of whom were basically consensus Top 10 guys in the state. They were impossible to split hairs between regarding who you liked best, as they all had amazing traits. Monroe was the epic headhunter, Anderson was the fluidity + length guy and Jones was the closing speed and angle-eraser option. All were four-star players and Jones and Anderson were nationally ranked in the Rivals 100. Jones came to Texas with elite prospect pedigree and represented an absolutely huge signing for Charlie Strong.
(notes taken from my various reports on him at the time)
(1/13/16 - recruiting profile) - Jones is, in fact, fast as can be. Jones is shorter than Deontay Anderson but is just as substantial at around the same weight. He is not quite is agile and fluid in coverage and read-and-react situations as Anderson appears to be at this point. Texas is one of over 30 schools that have offered Jones a scholarship by the end of his junior season.
(3/22/16 - spring practice report) Speaking of throwing a wrench in things, that's very likely what freshman safety Brandon Jones will do when he arrives on campus based on reports from practice. From the way it's told by sources, you feel like the two safety positions held by Dylan Haines and Jason Hall are virtually up for grabs. One person today said that even Kevin Vaccaro was getting some run with the first group.
(5-12-16 - early 2016 three-deep projection) - The staff has been openly calling for more from Jason Hall for nearly two seasons while Jones comes in as a possible instant contributor; a likely camp battle to monitor.
Arrival in Austin (6/6/16 - War Room note) - On S Brandon Jones: Not much to report as he’s more of a natural-born baller than a physical specimen. It seems like he’s a player we’ll start hearing more about once 7v7s start getting more cranked up.
(8/4/16 - pre-fall-camp preview) - I’m not sure Brandon Jones will get to run out with the first-team defense on Saturday to start fall camp, but he should be given every opportunity through August to show he’s better than Jason Hall; and Jones is one of only a few safety prospects in the nation who could legitimately make that claim as a freshman.
(I couldn't find another note in my search history about Jones through the rest of fall camp which is telling of what would come in Year 1).
As a Longhorn:
2016 (Freshman) - Played 93 snaps on the season behind Jason Hall, Dylan Haines and others on the back end. Saw his biggest snap count versus Oklahoma State with 28 snaps. Logged snaps on defense as a situational and reserve player versus Notre Dame (4), UTEP (9), OSU (28), OU (22), ISU (22), and Texas Tech (8). On those snaps, he was never graded as having a completion allowed into his coverage, but did miss two tackles, which on a per-snap basis was the 7th-most frequent on the team. In the end, Jones didn't make many waves one way or the other during his first season in Austin.
2017 (Sophomore) - In his first season as a starter (and under maestro Todd Orlando), he was outshined by fellow first-time starter at safety Deshon Elliott. Elliott went on to the NFL after a Thorpe-Award-finalist-worthy junior season. (Due largely to being in the right place at the right time as a function of Todd Orlando's scheme, but that's a different topic for a different day). Still, Jones played 715 snaps during the regular season and was the team's 8th-most productive player on defense for the year. He generated the most QB hits and was tied for the most QB pressures of all members of the secondary on the season, while coming in just one TFL behind Deshon Elliott (5) for the lead in that category. He was disruptive in the box as compared to the other DBs in Todd Orlando's aggressive scheme.
While those are the highlights, Jones also had a few dings on his resume: 13 missed tackles was good for third-most on the team behind Kris Boyd and Malik Jefferson who were tied for the lead at 14. As for coverage, Jones allowed a completion into what was clearly his coverage responsibility 10 times on the 18 where he was targeted. That 55.5% completion-rate-allowed was worst on the Texas defense among 100-snap qualifiers. He was burned in coverage 4 times and blew outside contain in the run-game in 3 other instances. When taking the sum of coverage burns + blown contains (7), the only player who had a higher number for the season was nickel P.J. Locke in a disappointing campaign (4 burns and 5 blown contains) where Locke was asked to be the force player much more often than Jones was.
AUDIT FINDINGS
Brandon Jones is coming into his junior season on an upward trajectory. It's not the hyperbolic mega-monster that some may have hoped was in the cards by 2018 for Jones, but he's a nice player with speed. He's gotten a year under his belt as a starter with positive progression and is now in a spot where his production and on-field impact should logically take a next step, especially given continuity on the defensive coaching staff, which has been a recent rarity.
Accomplishments:
He's been a starter for an entire season on a defense at Texas that was the sole reason for fans to have optimism moving into 2018. In accomplishing as much, he was among the the Top 10 best players on the defense from a production standpoint while sneakily profiling as the most disruptive defensive back in the box, which flies in the face of common sense, which would peg a player of his skill-set (one aligned often to the wider, field-side of the formation as a free safety) as one more likely to be effective in the aspects of covering ground in space and providing support over the top. Through two years, he's positioned himself for a junior-season breakout.
Concerns and areas where improvement is needed:
The first legitimate concern is just an overall notion that Jones has come along relatively slowly has not been as precocious when looking at breakout-age as you'd optimally like to see from a prospect who arrived at Texas as such a ballyhooed addition. He'll need to cut down on the missed tackles on the back-end. Perhaps most concerning is Jones' inability thus far (at least by the numbers) to be effective as a last-resort coverage threat and center-fielder given what should be elite closing speed. The good news is that the functional attribute still exists and year 3 could be the season that Jones puts it all together to live up to his potential.
This player audit filed Friday May 4th, the year of our lord 2018 in the county of Travis, state of Texas.
presented by the Dental Offices of Wendy Swantkowski, DDS
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
Support the Short by supporting our sponsor - Give Wendy a call today!
Player Audit
Player Name: Brandon Jones
From Texas Athletics (2018 - Junior)
A third-year defensive back who has played in 24 career games with 13 starts ... was an All-American and two-time all-state honoree ... played in the 2016 Under Armour All-America Game.
As a recruit
The 2016 recruiting class in Texas was highlighted at the very top by OT Greg Little, who is slated to be an early pick in the 2019 NFL draft as well as DT Ed Oliver who is projected to possibly be the first-overall selection at that very same event. Still, the story of the class for many, at the time, was the three-headed Texas monster at safety consisting of Eric Monroe, Deontay Anderson and Brandon Jones, all of whom were basically consensus Top 10 guys in the state. They were impossible to split hairs between regarding who you liked best, as they all had amazing traits. Monroe was the epic headhunter, Anderson was the fluidity + length guy and Jones was the closing speed and angle-eraser option. All were four-star players and Jones and Anderson were nationally ranked in the Rivals 100. Jones came to Texas with elite prospect pedigree and represented an absolutely huge signing for Charlie Strong.
(notes taken from my various reports on him at the time)
(1/13/16 - recruiting profile) - Jones is, in fact, fast as can be. Jones is shorter than Deontay Anderson but is just as substantial at around the same weight. He is not quite is agile and fluid in coverage and read-and-react situations as Anderson appears to be at this point. Texas is one of over 30 schools that have offered Jones a scholarship by the end of his junior season.
(3/22/16 - spring practice report) Speaking of throwing a wrench in things, that's very likely what freshman safety Brandon Jones will do when he arrives on campus based on reports from practice. From the way it's told by sources, you feel like the two safety positions held by Dylan Haines and Jason Hall are virtually up for grabs. One person today said that even Kevin Vaccaro was getting some run with the first group.
(5-12-16 - early 2016 three-deep projection) - The staff has been openly calling for more from Jason Hall for nearly two seasons while Jones comes in as a possible instant contributor; a likely camp battle to monitor.
Arrival in Austin (6/6/16 - War Room note) - On S Brandon Jones: Not much to report as he’s more of a natural-born baller than a physical specimen. It seems like he’s a player we’ll start hearing more about once 7v7s start getting more cranked up.
(8/4/16 - pre-fall-camp preview) - I’m not sure Brandon Jones will get to run out with the first-team defense on Saturday to start fall camp, but he should be given every opportunity through August to show he’s better than Jason Hall; and Jones is one of only a few safety prospects in the nation who could legitimately make that claim as a freshman.
(I couldn't find another note in my search history about Jones through the rest of fall camp which is telling of what would come in Year 1).
As a Longhorn:
2016 (Freshman) - Played 93 snaps on the season behind Jason Hall, Dylan Haines and others on the back end. Saw his biggest snap count versus Oklahoma State with 28 snaps. Logged snaps on defense as a situational and reserve player versus Notre Dame (4), UTEP (9), OSU (28), OU (22), ISU (22), and Texas Tech (8). On those snaps, he was never graded as having a completion allowed into his coverage, but did miss two tackles, which on a per-snap basis was the 7th-most frequent on the team. In the end, Jones didn't make many waves one way or the other during his first season in Austin.
2017 (Sophomore) - In his first season as a starter (and under maestro Todd Orlando), he was outshined by fellow first-time starter at safety Deshon Elliott. Elliott went on to the NFL after a Thorpe-Award-finalist-worthy junior season. (Due largely to being in the right place at the right time as a function of Todd Orlando's scheme, but that's a different topic for a different day). Still, Jones played 715 snaps during the regular season and was the team's 8th-most productive player on defense for the year. He generated the most QB hits and was tied for the most QB pressures of all members of the secondary on the season, while coming in just one TFL behind Deshon Elliott (5) for the lead in that category. He was disruptive in the box as compared to the other DBs in Todd Orlando's aggressive scheme.
While those are the highlights, Jones also had a few dings on his resume: 13 missed tackles was good for third-most on the team behind Kris Boyd and Malik Jefferson who were tied for the lead at 14. As for coverage, Jones allowed a completion into what was clearly his coverage responsibility 10 times on the 18 where he was targeted. That 55.5% completion-rate-allowed was worst on the Texas defense among 100-snap qualifiers. He was burned in coverage 4 times and blew outside contain in the run-game in 3 other instances. When taking the sum of coverage burns + blown contains (7), the only player who had a higher number for the season was nickel P.J. Locke in a disappointing campaign (4 burns and 5 blown contains) where Locke was asked to be the force player much more often than Jones was.
AUDIT FINDINGS
Brandon Jones is coming into his junior season on an upward trajectory. It's not the hyperbolic mega-monster that some may have hoped was in the cards by 2018 for Jones, but he's a nice player with speed. He's gotten a year under his belt as a starter with positive progression and is now in a spot where his production and on-field impact should logically take a next step, especially given continuity on the defensive coaching staff, which has been a recent rarity.
Accomplishments:
He's been a starter for an entire season on a defense at Texas that was the sole reason for fans to have optimism moving into 2018. In accomplishing as much, he was among the the Top 10 best players on the defense from a production standpoint while sneakily profiling as the most disruptive defensive back in the box, which flies in the face of common sense, which would peg a player of his skill-set (one aligned often to the wider, field-side of the formation as a free safety) as one more likely to be effective in the aspects of covering ground in space and providing support over the top. Through two years, he's positioned himself for a junior-season breakout.
Concerns and areas where improvement is needed:
The first legitimate concern is just an overall notion that Jones has come along relatively slowly has not been as precocious when looking at breakout-age as you'd optimally like to see from a prospect who arrived at Texas as such a ballyhooed addition. He'll need to cut down on the missed tackles on the back-end. Perhaps most concerning is Jones' inability thus far (at least by the numbers) to be effective as a last-resort coverage threat and center-fielder given what should be elite closing speed. The good news is that the functional attribute still exists and year 3 could be the season that Jones puts it all together to live up to his potential.
This player audit filed Friday May 4th, the year of our lord 2018 in the county of Travis, state of Texas.
