Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/638727
2016 RECRUITING ISSUE Jones, who hit .359 as a sophomore and .500 as a junior. "I don't know how it feels to only play one sport." Notre Dame made that promise, and its past success with two-sport athletes was a key factor in his decision. Former standout wide receivers Golden Tate (2007-09) and Jeff Samardzija (2003-06) were starters on the baseball team and current wideout Torii Hunter Jr. is also an outfielder on the baseball team. "Golden Tate is in the league [NFL] dominating. To see him do it helped," Jones noted. "Pat Connaughton was dominating in basketball and baseball. Torii is doing that, too. Notre Dame knows how to do it." Jones said baseball was his first love, but as he grew up football became more of a passion. "I was just raised around football," Jones said. "My dad played football, my brothers played football, so I had to do it. But then I fell in love with it." Love for the game is not the only rea- son Jones desires to play both sports. He enjoys the calm that playing baseball brings, and the fact the sport is like a chess match. There is also marketing ap- peal to being a two-sport standout. "It makes me more valuable," he said emphatically. "For baseball, there are players that aren't great, but they are good in football so teams take them higher in the draft to get them away from football. For football, you see a school's true colors by letting me play baseball." Jones is happy he will not have to choose between his two loves. "I don't even know," Jones said with a laugh. ✦