Reviewing the Redshirts is an off-season series meant to resurrect discussion around the current Irish freshmen who did not play in 2016.
There were 11 players who retained a year of eligibility this past year and today we look at an under-sized linebacker surprising early in his career.
LB, Jonathan Jones
Hometown: Ocoee, Florida
Height: 5-11 1/2
Weight: 227
247Sports Composite Ranking:
3-star, No. 31 OLB, No. 62 FL, No. 452 USA, 0.8743 score
Need at Position: Low-to-Mild
Expected Spot on 2017 Depth Chart: Rarely Used Backup
Notre Dame had an interesting 2016 cycle as far as linebackers are concerned. As many as four players total (including Jamir Jones, Spencer Perry, and D.J. Morgan) were projected to possibly end up at linebacker at some point in their careers. From this group, Jonathan Jones was the most highly rated in the Composite coming out of high school which is maybe a bit of a surprise to some people.
Through one season it’s trending in the direction that Jones will end up being the only linebacker. We’ve already covered Perry (209 lbs.) and D.J. Morgan (208 lbs.) as redshirts this off-season and neither have gained the appropriate weight yet to be considered linebackers. Jamir Jones was resigned to special teams duty in 2016 and currently at 6-3, 243 pounds is a healthy meal at the training table away from moving to the weak-side drop end position in Mike Elko’s defense.
Most of the redshirts end up flying under the radar and being forgotten for a while but Jon Jones did make some waves during his first fall camp. In fact, for portions of the media viewings last August he had jumped the two years older former blue-chip recruit Josh Barajas for reps at middle linebacker. Jones wasn’t able to ride that wave into any playing time and was sent down to scout team but he did pick up defensive player of the year honors for his effort off the varsity squad.
The good news for Jones (or alternatively bad news if you’re Barajas) is that for the first media viewing of spring practice he was with the 2nd team once again at middle linebacker. I can remember plenty of reports from last August citing a surprisingly effective Jones in practice and now we have 2 separate defensive coordinators apparently favoring him at a very young age.
In the near term we have a couple of issues for Jones. First, he may practice as the backup middle linebacker to Nyles Morgan but as so often happens in football that doesn’t mean he’s the team’s second best player at the position. For 2017 at least we’re likely to see either Greer Martini or Te’von Coney moved to the middle in the event that Morgan misses any time.
The second issue for Jones, which is clearly going to remain for the rest of his career, is the lack of size. There was a lot to like about him as a recruit but folks like me downgraded him due to his height. At just over 5-11 he’s not much bigger than Joe Schmidt (officially listed at 6-0 1/2 and 235 very, very generously) and as we all know this was a constant issue for Notre Dame’s former captain.
Jones wouldn’t be the first sub-6 footer to excel, especially at the major D-1 level. It’s the combination of lack of height while still being under 230 pounds that’s a bigger issue. We should take it as a major positive that despite these limitations early in his career that he’s still favored by the coaching staff.
Moving forward to 2017 this should be an important special teams year for Jones and on defense perhaps working on a goal to become the 5th linebacker on the depth chart. If he can acquire 50 to 100 snaps as a redshirt freshman that’s a huge win for his future.
Rarely disagree E but jones is big enough if his other measurables are good enough to play. Reuben foster was 6’0″ 229, ben boulware 6’0″ 238, Blair brown 5’11 230, Jayon brown 6’0 231, etc. Plenty of other examples of guys w similar height and weight measurables that were at the combine and highly effective college linebackers.
I don’t feel like there’s a disagreement there.
IF he’s a highly productive linebacker then his size won’t matter all that much. But we just don’t know that about him yet.
Just meant if he has other good measurables he can overcome his less than ideal size and be productive. Not saying he will or won’t but I wouldn’t knock a guy for size alone. Joe was a pretty good linebacker until he was injured and his other measurables took a hit. Love this series every year!