In-person recruiting has been put on hold for the past couple months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but college coaches have stayed busy with virtual recruiting, including video conference calls with prospects and virtual “visits” to showcase their program. The spring evaluation period was washed away, but the shutdown has allowed coaches to invest more time watching film and evaluating prospects from a distance.
For the University of Texas, the result has been a large number of spring offers, including a few last week. One player the UT staff has zeroed in on is McKinney defensive end Jonathan Jones.
“I’ve been talking to them for a few weeks. I got the offer from the D-coordinator, coach (Chris) Ash,” Jones said. “We were on a zoom call, looking through some of their film on zoom, then the defensive coordinator came up, introduced himself, said I want to let you know you have an offer from the University of Texas.
“I had to stay cool, calm and collected, but inside I was chomping.”
The 6-4, 235-pound Jones is holding close to 30 offers. He remains open among the schools that are recruiting, but said the Texas offer definitely has his interest.
“They have that history. They have that culture,” Jones said. “They’ve been one of the top programs in football for a minute.”
Although he can’t take visits anytime soon, Jones hopes to narrow his focus in the near future. His plan is to gradually trim his list before making a decision next fall.
“With the Coronavirus happening, it’s been hard to make decisions. I haven’t been able to take visits. The next step, I’ll cut down to have a top five, maybe top 10 by end of summer. Then hopefully a top three by the first three games of the season,” Jones said.
The Longhorns currently have two defensive ends committed. Jones said it’s his understanding that Texas would like to add a couple more. When he does cut his list, he said Texas will likely make the cut.
“Where Texas fits in, they’re definitely going to be on my top list,” Jones said. “They’re definitely going to be big, somewhere up to that top.”
Along with Texas, Jones has offers from programs like Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech. Jones said he feels his athleticism and effort are what have college coaches in pursuit of his commitment.
“I’m an athletic, quick, physical defensive end. I have a quick first step,” Jones said. “I’m aggressive, physical the whole game. I run sideline to sideline. I want to make the play, don’t want to wait for others to make the play.”
