From the mag: Unfinished business brought Jones back for senior season

By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer

This article originally appeared in the 25th Anniversary Issue of Horns Illustrated magazine. To order a copy of the 25th Anniversary Football Preview Issue, which includes interviews, insights and more, click here.

FORMER PRESIDENT THEODORE Roosevelt, who was fond of using the adage “speak softly and carry a big stick,” would have liked Brandon Jones.

The Texas senior safety is the kind of player who roams the secondary with a purpose and likes to lower the boom on ballcarriers and receivers.

In that aspect, Jones is kind of a silent enforcer, the one who will grin at you when he’s knocking you out.

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With those physical attributes on ready display, the Longhorns will be after Jones to add some vocal leadership to his tough as nails “Piney Woods” attack this season.

Jones is one of just three starters returning from last year for the Texas defense and will team up with freshman — along with freshman All-American Caden Sterns — one of the nation’s most physical and ball-hawking safety combinations.

The Nacogdoches native heads back for his senior season on the Forty Acres after holding down the safety spot for most of last year while missing four games with ankle injuries and a concussion.
Despite missing those contests, Jones racked up 70 tackles, good enough for fourth on the team, including 5½ tackles for a loss and two fumble recoveries.

He could have gone to the NFL after last year, but chose to return even after he received a good grade from draft evaluators.

“It was exciting to get the feedback I did, especially knowing that I was highly regarded even though I was injured and wasn’t able to show my full capability,” Jones said. “Overall, I just had to do what’s best for me. I sat down with my family and weighed my options.”

Wanting to honor his commitment to having the Horns back at the top, along with those familial feelings made the decision easier than expected for Jones to know he had to come back and complete some “unfinished business.”

“We came to the conclusion that the biggest thing for me and my mom was being able to get my degree from the University of Texas,” Jones added. “I wouldn’t say it was a tough decision, because my injury last year and missing the games I did left me with unfinished business.”

Despite his skill set and blazing speed, the most important things Jones will contribute to the Texas defense are maturity and experience.

Texas will replace its entire defensive line, two of its three linebackers, both corners and its nickelback. Jones has 23 starts entering 2019, and he will be one of just two members of the unit with double-digit starts.

LIVING UP TO EXPECTATIONS

Jones was the crown jewel and a four-star-rated recruit of Charlie Strong’s final recruiting class at Texas, choosing the Longhorns over Texas A&M in a signing day coup for the former Texas coach.

In his first season Jones mostly made his mark on special teams as a freshman before he became a full-time starter for Tom Herman and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando the following year, where his combination of heavy hits and sideline-to-sideline prowess made him a fixture of the latter’s lightning defense.

“Brandon is probably our most valuable guy because of what he has do and all the plays he’s making,” Orlando said. “There’s so much stuff going on back there, and he’s the guy that holds everything together. He’s such an unbelievable person. He now understands exactly what we want — once he figures out where the ball is after the snap he’s done thinking.”

Jones said he knows where he needs to improve and is working in those areas despite missing the Longhorns spring camp after ankle surgery, but he’s back fully healthy in advance of the season opener Saturday.

’22 MILES PER HOUR’

“The biggest thing I need to improve on is making plays on the ball,” Jones said.

“I struggled my freshman and sophomore years with being able to locate the ball. I was always in good position but not able to get my eyes back and get interceptions. I only have two in my career and that’s something I can build on.

“Then there’s taking better angles, and being better in man coverage — in this sport and at my position there is always something you can improve on.”

Orlando said he saw a huge jump in play recognition from Jones from his sophomore to his junior seasons and pointed out how far and how fast his safety often has to range in coverage to make plays.

“Brandon runs 22 miles per hour when he’s got pads on, and there’s some times he’s moving so fast that he kind of misjudges balls,” Orlando explained. “So, you know, we’ll continue to work with him on that stuff.”

The 6-foot, 205-pound Jones has played in 34 career games over the past three years. He earned honorable mention kudos on the Big 12’s All-Conference team in 2018. His career stats include 147 tackles, 9 ½ of them for a loss, five passes defended, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble and two touchdowns.

“He’s playing like what he was advertised as an athlete,” Orlando said. “You can see his big speed. To me, Brandon has been exceptional, and I don’t usually bring that word up.”

Jones has a nose for the ball when the game’s on the line as a pair of his most notable tackles have been key stops at the goal line. He denied West Virginia quarterback Will Grier the front corner of the end zone and forced a fumble in Texas’ 28-14 road win over the Mountaineers in 2017.

He also led the trio of tacklers in running down and stopping USC running back Stephen Carr short of paydirt in Texas’ 37-14 victory against the Trojans last year.

JONES HOPES INJURIES ARE BEHIND HIM

Jones first suffered a high-ankle sprain last year during the season-opening loss to Maryland, and he was forced to miss the following week’s home-opening victory over Tulsa.

Later in the year, Jones re-injured his ankle in what was described as a “freak” accident at the team hotel the morning of Texas’ home loss to West Virginia.

After that injury, he missed three straight contests, including the Texas Tech and Iowa State wins in the following weeks.

Jones returned in the regular season finale against Kansas, in which he sustained a head injury, and played in the Big 12 title game loss to Oklahoma in Dallas and in the Allstate Sugar Bowl win over Georgia.

He said the injury was a big reason why he decided to return to the Longhorns for one more season, along with the chance to be a team captain and to help Texas win a conference championship.

MORE TO PROVE

And maybe more.

“With my injury I felt I had more to prove not only to myself, but to my team as well,” Jones said. “I see where this team is headed and I want to be a part of something great. Winning the Sugar Bowl and the feeling afterward let me know what we are capable of doing this year.”

A mock projection of the 2020 NFL Draft conducted by USA Today’s Draft Wire has Jones as a prospect with first-round potential, placed at No. 23 overall in the publication’s projections with a pick being owned by the Dallas Cowboys based on the current Vegas odds for Super Bowl LIV.

If that happens, it certainly supports and vindicates Jones’ decision to return to the Forty Acres this year.

“We have a lot of younger guys that do not have a choice but to come back,” Jones said. “Overall, I think we are going to be a really good team next year, and it will be really fun to get a chance to get to play with them again.”

As hoped by the coaching staff and as Jones expects, he now welcomes the role as one of the team’s vocal leaders

“It’s important, especially with losing the seniors we had,” he explained. “I’m going to take that leadership on myself. That’s another reason I chose to stay, I want to be able to show our younger guys the ropes by leading by example.
“I want people to say I was the hardest-working guy on the team.”

That sounds like another thing the irrepressible Roosevelt would love about Jones.

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