Emory Jones opens up on uncomfortable situations at Florida, Arizona State

It’s been an interesting couple years for Emory Jones. Once the starter at Florida, he entered the transfer portal and wound up at Arizona State before doing so again to, ultimately, end up at Cincinnati.

Jones has also been through two straight coaching changes. Dan Mullen was the head coach at Florida when he was there, and he entered the portal after his firing. Then, he went to play for Herm Edwards, and Arizona State fired him three games into the season.

Those were some tough situations, and Jones opened up about that at Big 12 Media Days as he prepares to start his first — and final — season with Cincinnati.

“I mean, with the past couple of years, it’s been tough, obviously,” Jones said on SiriusXM College. “I didn’t really think I played that bad at Florida, but I didn’t really feel comfortable with some of the things that were going on. They kind of wanted to move on, I felt like, and I didn’t want to stick around to see how that ended.

“So I took it upon myself to go to Arizona State, and I got there. And it was kind of … something that I didn’t really expect. Coach Herm got fired after the third game of the season. That was just kind of tough. … Two tough situations for me.”

Now, he’s playing for his third coach in as many years in Scott Satterfield, who came in from Louisville. At a program like Cincinnati, which is entering its first year in the Big 12, Jones knows expectations are high. That said, there’s plenty of support from the fan base.

“Honestly, coming to Cincinnati, just relying on the people here,” Jones said. “I always hear great things about the people. One thing I know about Cincinnati, they have a really big support system on their players. We’ve got a lot of pro teams around us. I mean, the support system’s crazy. That’s all I’m looking for right now.”

In his last year at Florida in 2021, Jones threw for 2,734 yards and 19 touchdowns, along with 13 interceptions in 13 games. He then threw for 1,533 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions in eight games at Arizona State in 2022. But at Cincinnati, he feels like another part of his game will be better — and it’s thanks to the up-and-down nature of the last two years.

“Probably mentally, honestly,” Jones said of where he made the biggest improvement. “Of course, I feel like I can make every play on the field. But just over the past years, being in tough situations, I learned to be poised in every single situation there is, be comfortable in every single situation and all the adversity that can come.”