Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Lineman Jarron Jones Takes Rankings Drop In Stride FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY LOU SOMOGYI defensive line recruit Jarron Jones from Aquinas Institute in Roches- ter, N.Y., experienced one of the bigger crashes this January. Ranked as a five-star recruit last I f recruiting rankings were the stock market, then Notre Dame fender had some difficulty at the All-American events once he was facing the nation's best," summa- rized Braden Gall of Athlon, whose publication dropped him from 32nd to 101st. "New York prep football leaves much to be desired, and his adjustment period likely caused him to drop." Fortunately, the 6-6, 298-pound fall by 247Sports, Jones saw one star subtracted from his name while falling from No. 26 to No. 107 in the overall rankings during the week of practices in early January at the U.S. Army All-American Game in San Antonio. He even fell as low as No. 199 on Rivals.com's list. "The future Fighting Irish de- Jones is not experiencing any "de- pression" from it. Instead, he tries to take it in stride and use it as fuel to improve. He claims he didn't let his head swell when he was ranked among the elite, and he's not allow- ing his self-image to suffer from the downgrade. "It's a pretty good question, but it's not something that stays in my mind," said Jones of why he thought he plummeted so dra- matically. "I didn't dominate, but I don't think anyone did there. It's a lot of good players going against each other, and I had not been used to working against people of that speed or ability, but now I have an understanding of what to expect. It doesn't matter now. "I did get people saying that I'm 247Sports lists Jones as a four-star recruit, the No. 2 player in New York, the No. 10 offensive tackle in the country and the No. 107 overall player nationally. prototype, prized commodity as an offensive left tackle with his long reach and quick feet. His athletic ability was on display PHOTO COURTESY U.S. ARMY ALL-AMERICAN BOWL going to bump into you on the court." Jones makes no secret of the fact not that good, but I don't worry about that. It's just the way it goes, and it's just rankings. It won't show who's the best players are [once they play in college]. You're on scholarship now, and it's what you make of yourself after this." Analysts appear to have a con- sensus opinion that although Jones can be a serviceable and produc- tive college defensive lineman, he has a better chance of becoming a 30 MARCH 2012 during a Jan. 27 varsity basketball game when his Aquinas Institute Little Irish — yes, that's their nick- name — defeated Charlotte, 83-64. Jones posted a triple-double with 20 points, 11 blocked shots and a school-record 33 rebounds, even after getting pulled from the game with five minutes remaining. The Aquinas Institute football and basketball programs have ranked among the best in the state. "Basketball was my first sport, but I just don't like it as much anymore because I get fouls called on me for just any little contact," Jones said. "I'm a big guy, and I'm that he wants to play defense at the collegiate level, and Notre Dame recruited him to play the five-tech- nique in its 3-4 base alignment. "I just like 'D,' " said Jones, who singled out Michigan recruit Kyle Kalis as the best player he com- peted against in the U.S. Army All-American practices. "I like to tackle, hit, bring people down. You can hit on offense, too, but it's not as fun. I am a protective person, which can help me on offense, but I like to get after it on defense." According to Aquinas Institute head football coach Chris Battaglia, Jones is still relatively raw in foot- ball and should blossom at Notre BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED