The former Huskies cornerback wasn't even going to participate in Indianapolis and now he's one of the hottest names in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Byron Jones wasn’t even going to work out at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The Connecticut cornerback tore his labrum in his shoulder the middle of August during the team’s preseason camp. He played through the injury until October, when his season was finished in the first half of an Oct. 23 game against East Carolina. Here’s Jones with the cringe-worthy details:
"I understood what I was going up against," Jones said Saturday at the Combine. "I knew I could still keep playing and it was going to get worse, but I’m not giving up on my senior year.
"I tried to play as long as I could with it, rehabbing twice a day. It kept coming out. In the final game it came out twice and they actually had to put it back in. They called it after that."
Jones is up to the 15th week of his rehabilitation, but just the third week of running. Because of that, he didn’t run the 40-yard dash at the combine, but he did do other tests. Boy, did he ever do other tests.
Jones registered a broad jump of 12'3. Forget about him breaking the NFL record by seven inches. That is believed to be an inch further than the world record in track. Jones also came within a half inch of breaking the combine record in the vertical jump by jumping 44.5 inches.
The four-year starter was a surprise recent entrant into the top 50 players in the draft from the NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah. During a conference call Monday, ESPN's Todd McShay said Jones is a second-round prospect. Scouts in Indianapolis were raving about Jones, though, touting him for his size and athleticism.
"I’m hoping I can solidify a nice mid-round projection, so we’ll see," Jones said about working out at the combine.
After his work out numbers, chances are Jones has rocketed past that projection. That’s not bad for a player who just a few years ago was a two-star prospect in high school. Jones played quarterback until his junior season but was but switched to wide receiver and safety for his final season at St. Paul Catholic High School in Connecticut.
"I honestly wasn’t a great high school football player," Jones said. "I had athleticism and when I went to football camps I paid attention to detail and showed the coaches what they wanted to see."
In 2009, Jones was working out at one of those camps to learn how to become a better wide receiver. While he was there, Connecticut offered him a scholarship and he accepted. It was Jones’ only scholarship offer, according to his Rivals profile.
"It came out of nowhere and I wasn’t expecting it," Jones said of getting a scholarship offer. "Early on, I didn’t see the bigger picture. People would tell me ‘Byron, you have the potential to be a great player,’ but I didn’t really have a lot of confidence. I didn’t really see it. I just wanted to focus on school and take care of school things."
Jones made the most of it, becoming a four-year starter on the Huskies. After redshirting his first season in Connecticut, Jones was moved to safety. It wasn’t until his junior season after being moved to cornerback that Jones thought football might be his career path.
In fact, the economics major began taking political internships during the summer. His first was with Joe Aresimowicz, the Majority Leader in Connecticut’s House of Representatives and Jones’ AAU coach in prep basketball. From there he went on to intern with U.S. Representative Elizabeth Esty in Washington D.C.
While there for two months, Jones managed to squeeze in some training to stay in shape. He actually worked out with the women’s basketball team at George Washington University in the mornings. Then he would work at the U.S. Capitol building from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., sit in grueling D.C. traffic and not get home until 8 p.m. Then he’d work out more, go to bed and start it all again the next day.
"I enjoyed my time down there, but I’m a football player," Jones said. "I’m definitely a football player."
After his record-setting numbers at the Combine, those in the NFL agree.
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