Texas lands nation's top safety
Brandon Jones. (Justin Wells/IT)
NACOGDOCHES — Texas needed a few superstars to go with all this talent from 2015 and 2016 classes.
Problem solved.
Nacogdoches 5-star safety Brandon Jones committed to Texas today in an announcement at his high school in the piney woods of East Texas. The 6-foot-0, 190-pound ball hawk held over 30 offers, including Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, and Oregon. And even with the allure to play college football anywhere in the country, in the end it came down to three – Texas, Baylor, and A&M.
Jones, the oldest of five siblings, was always going to stay close to home. Austin offers the best a prospect could ask for and only three hours from home.
Jones overcame a devastating knee injury early in his junior year, and came back for his senior campaign stronger than ever, regaining almost all of his electronic 4.3 40-yard dash speed.
Excerpt from the Recruiting Notebook (6/15):
Brandon Jones, safety (Nacogdoches,TX) (2016)
How he fits at Texas: Jones is the Kris Boyd of the 2016 class; a purely dominant athlete who projects all over the secondary and is the type of player that can shrink a field back down even when the offense is spreading the defense out wide. Perhaps his most exceptional skill is dropping down in run support, fighting through the wash, and running through ball carriers. It’s not clear if he’s ever faced a running back in high school who isn’t going to go backwards when he strikes them. Because he’s so big, powerful, and fantastic at tackling, he’d be best utilized as a strong safety who spends most of his time hovering just outside the box and running free to the football. Reminds me a lot of Jamal Adams. – Ian Boyd
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Coach Says: Not much needs to be said here about BJ19. Didn’t matter where he was lined up this year, he made plays. He is a playmaker when he gets the ball in his hands, and he shows that he has good ball skills on the defensive side. He can really run and shows great range on defense, and is capable of laying the wood and also knows how to put his chest on a ball carrier and wrap him up, which is a bit of a lost art these days. I don’t have any negative things to say about the young man, he’s a stud and a must-get if you’re Texas.
How this affects Texas: When we introduced you to Jones two years ago, we told you to be patient. We told you he’s a quiet, unassuming talent that wanted to take his time in recruiting. We told you he’ll be a 5-star. We told you he’ll have 40+ offers before he graduates. We told you about the bond he’s building with Jeff Traylor. At the moment, it’s a Texas/Texas A&M battle with the Horns holding the slight edge. He’s taking an official visit to Austin this weekend. A laundry list of things had to happen for BJ to end up in Austin. That list is damn near done. – Justin Wells
Jones is the 20th commit in the Class of 2016. He joins D’Andre Christmas-Giles (St Augustine), Chris Daniels (Euless Trinity), Marcel Southall (Duncanville), Kyle Porter (Katy), Lil Jordan Humphrey (Southlake Carroll), Eric Cuffee (Waco High), Zach Shackelford (Belton), Jean Delance (North Mesquite), Davion Curtis (Temple), Denzel Okafor (Lewisville), Andrew Fitzgerald (Flower Mound Marcus), Malcolm Roach (Baton Rouge, LA), Peyton Aucoin (Bother Martin, New Orleans), Collin Johnson (WR – Valley Christian (CA), Reggie Hemphill (WR – Manvel), Shane Buechele (QB – Arlington Lamar), Tope Imade (OL – Arlington Bowie), Gerald Wilbon (DL/OL – Destrehan, LA) and DeMarco Boyd (ATH – Gilmer).
