Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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jans, and grabbed a 45-yard toss from quarterback DeShone Kizer shortly before the game-winning touchdown in the closing minute to wideout Will Fuller at Temple. "He has the best hands on the team," Fuller said of Jones after the game. Like 2012 Mackey Award winner and first-round pick Tyler Eifert at Notre Dame, or second-round choice Devin Funchess (about 6-4, 225) at Michigan from 2012-14, Jones is a hybrid who can flex out as a wide receiver and be an in-line tight end, where a premium is placed on blocking. "They're going to use me the best way possible to help us beat Texas," Jones said of his role next fall. "I'm going to leave that up to them, but I enjoy playing both positions and be- ing a mismatch out there." A 222-pound receiver in high school, Jones said he pressured him- self to get up to about 243 pounds prior to last season just to have more bulk as a tight end. "I did force that weight on myself," he admitted. "Not to say that 243 is bad — just the way that I gained it was bad, because I did not feel fast. I didn't feel like I had my athleticism. "Coming in as a freshman I just thought I needed to gain weight because that's going to allow me to play and that's going to impress the coaches. I gained it wrong, but this winter I worked on my strength and athleticism." Mentally, he also feels much more comfortable after having gone through a year of learning the offense as a tight end and taking 239 snaps last year (about 19 per game), second to Weishar's 286. "You can't come in here and think you're just going to get by off your talent … and I thought that," said Jones, who is also working on his blocking technique. "If you don't know the offense, if you don't know