Rivals250 linebacker Marco Jones has taken three official visits, with one more upcoming this weekend. So far, Jones has seen Michigan, Texas A&M and Texas. He’ll hit USC this weekend before working towards a final decision that he’ll announce on July 2.
Jones’ most recent visit was to Texas last weekend and he said there was a lot to like on that trip.
“Obviously it’s a great coaching staff. Coach Sark is awesome. He’s definitely a player’s coach. All the defensive staff is amazing,” Jones said. “I feel like the community that they have out here is fantastic. They show a closeness and community that they have and brotherhood. You have linebackers hanging out with linemen, things like that. It’s definitely a close bond.”
Out of Danville (CA) San Ramon Valley, Jones was hosted by Texas linebacker Liona Lefau. Jones had visited UT once previously in the summer of 2023, but his 48-hour official visit gave him a much more thorough look at the Texas program and the city of Austin.
“It was less about the program, more just about Austin as a whole,” Jones said when asked what he learned on the official visit. “I went out here, but I was here for less than 24 hours so I didn’t really get to see the city. Just being able to go out to dinner, hang out with the players downtown … it’s cool seeing how cool of a city Austin is. I’ve heard good things but never actually got to experience it. It’s really like a college town, everybody is wearing Longhorn gear, but it has a city vibe as well.”
Texas has a lot of West Coast ties on its team, led by Sarkisian. The Longhorns have been expanding their recruiting footprint out West, a message that was stressed to Jones.
“Coach (Johnny) Nansen, coach Sark, they were saying we have a lot of West Coast guys coming out here, players and coaches as well. They said we’re expanding out there, we’re the farthest West school in the SEC,” Jones said. “They said they really want me, that I’m a really good player, especially because I’m out in California and that’s big-time for them.”
With USC getting the last visit, one would expect the in-state Trojans to be a strong contender for Jones’ commitment. That may very well wind up being the case, but Jones said location really isn’t much of a factor for him.
“It's not really a big deal. Obviously, it's cool that it's close to home. But for me, I'm not someone who is really looking to stay right next to home or anything like that and even USC isn't super close to home anyway. It's a long drive, short flight,” Jones said. “For me, proximity to home isn't the biggest deal because most likely my parents are going to probably follow me. I'm the only child so they're probably going to follow me wherever I go for the most part.”
Also a standout on the baseball diamond, schools have been recruiting Jones as a dual-sport athlete. Because of a recruiting dead period when he visited Texas last weekend, he was unable to meet with the baseball staff while in Austin, but the football coaches told him they’re very supportive of him playing both sports.
“We've talked in the past before so that's definitely big. Texas has a really good baseball program, they produce a lot of guys. Coach Sark just made it a point to tell me that it's important, that they want me to do both and be able to play both as well,” Jones said.
A 6-4, 215-pounder who can play at linebacker and also rush off the edge, Jones said he really doesn’t have a pecking order among the schools he’s visited. He’ll begin to sort through his options once he concludes his USC visit this weekend.
“I'm just kind of waiting until this last visit and then going to go over all of them with my family, sit down and really kind of go over the pros and cons of each school and then make a decision,” Jones said. “It’ll be decision time after that.
“At this point in the game, I feel like in the recruiting process you like every school. It's kind of just the little things that set one school apart from another. I feel like after this last OV it'll be good to sit down and kind of figure out all the pros and cons and all the little things that kind of separate schools. That's when the biggest difference will be made.”
As for what has Texas in the mix, Jones said it’s a combination of factors, including the success the program has enjoyed under Sarkisian and the bond the Texas players seem to have with the UT coaches.
“Obviously, they're a winning program. They love to win, it's in the history. They have a great coaching staff, they put out a lot of guys and it's just a real like family community type of school. Not every school is like that,” Jones said. “Texas is fortunate enough to have that and that's kind of like their motto, where they really take pride in being close. Coast Sark, he's always available to guys, stuff like that. So, that's definitely important to me.”
A four-star prospect, Jones is ranked No. 234 on the Rivals250.
