thankfully for the Irish, it never got to
that point.
"When we went there on the visit
I thought that I was going to have to
go back home and convince him that
Notre Dame was the right choice, but
he sat in the room with his mom and
then met with the coaches and he had
made up his mind," said Jones Sr.
Jones ran for a team-high 771 yards
and 12 touchdowns last season for an
IMG Academy squad that had 12 se-
niors sign with Football Bowl Subdi-
vision schools. He's expected to be
the featured back once again, and the
national honors are already starting
to pour in before he has even taken a
snap as a senior.
The 6-1, 212-pound back was invited
to play in the 2016 edition of the Sem-
per Fidelis All-American Game, which
–– traditionally –– has been good to
the Irish over the years. Since 2012, the
program has had 13 signees partici-
pate in the annual all-star game held
out at the StubHub Center in Carson,
Calif., before enrolling in South Bend.
The No. 29-ranked running back
in the country and the No. 79 pros-
pect in Florida according to Rivals.
com will also compete in The Opening
this summer at Nike's headquarters in
Beaverton, Ore.
"The combination of Coach Den-
brock and Coach Denson was the dif-
ference, but so was the talk with Coach
Kelly," Jones Sr. said. "It wasn't a
pushy conversation. It was more like,
'Hey here's what we can offer, and
here's what we can do for you. That's
what he wanted, that type of relation-
ship." ✦
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