It is not very flattering to an athlete when he is referred to as some type of sandwich. Typically it means the player is soft without talent and often serves in football vernacular as lunch for an opponent.
But Jarvis Jones is a sandwich.
Before the NFL draft Subway created a sandwich of his likeness made of smokehouse BBQ chicken with raisins for his dreadlocks. The submarine sandwich maker has done this before with other players such as Ndamukong Suh C.J. Spiller and Mark Ingram.
Jones is just the latest although nobody who ever faced him on the field at the University of Georgia thought he was a sandwich.
Everyone respected him because of the way he handled himself Georgia coach Mark Richt said. They knew from practices he was going to be something pretty special.
That is the same word the Steelers used to describe Jones a 6 foot 2 245 pound defensive end who was taken with the 17th overall pick in the draft Thursday and will be used at right outside linebacker as James Harrison's replacement.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was so thrilled to get Jones that the other coaches in the team's draft room were energized just listening to their head coach rave about his ability.
We didn't even talk to Jarvis at the combine because we didn't think there was any chance he'd even get to us Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said.
Colbert said earlier in the week there were six or eight special players in the draft and while he did not identify them that group included tackles Eric Fisher and Luke Joeckel wide receiver Tavon Austin defensive end/outside linebacker Dion Jordan tight end Tyler Eifert and Jones.
But it wouldn't have mattered if any of those players had slipped to the Steelers. (Only Eifert did.) They still would have taken Jones who led Division I A with 14 1/2 sacks in 2012.
He's a football player in every phase of the game and that's what was really exciting Colbert said.
Still it has been a long road for Jones. When he was 15 he had to deal with the murder of his brother the guilt that maybe he could have helped prevent his death and a series of behavioral incidents that caused him to be banned from all schools in his hometown county. It is testament to his development and maturity that the player the Steelers drafted with their top pick is now almost too good to be true.
I haven't met a person who didn't like Jarvis said Dell McGee Jones' former coach at George Washington Carver High School in Columbus Ga. He's very likeable very social and gets along with everyone.
It wasn't always that way.
Feeling of guilt
Jones was 15 when his brother Darcell Kitchens was murdered outside a bar in Richland Ga. on his 19th birthday.
An hour or so earlier they were standing on the street just down from their mother's house in the same town when a friend pulled up and asked Kitchens if he wanted to go celebrate. Kitchens asked his brother if he wanted him to stay with him but Jones told him to go celebrate and stayed behind.
Kitchens was shot in the parking lot outside the bar.
Jones felt guilty for not telling his brother to stay with him that night.
The guilt led to problems.
Jones was kicked out of Stewart County Middle School where he was in eighth grade because he acted out aggressively after his brother's death. Then after being kicked out of an alternative school he was banned from attending any school in Stewart County.
It was nothing like him being disrespectful it was mostly playing around a lot in class and not being focused on what he should be doing said John Hamilton who was a physical education teacher at the middle school and had Jones in one of his classes. His brother's death affected him quite a bit. I think it was probably best for him at the time just to change his environment to get a little more structure in his life.
So Jones' biological mother Gloria Dowdell established guardianship with Shelley Stephens a mother of two who knew Jones when she was an academic counselor for his basketball team. Stephens lived in Columbus about 35 miles away and was an educator and district supervisor for an after school program. She tutored Jones in the summer to catch him up on academics.
Dowdell also made Tony Adams Jones' AAU basketball coach one of his legal guardians. The two helped Jones mature and develop.
To this day Jones still refers to both women Dowdell and Stephens as his mother.
He's been through a lot Tomlin said. He had a mature demeanor around him and it's probably because of his life experiences.
Jones enrolled at Carver High School and started playing football only after his coaches told him he couldn't play basketball if he didn't play football. Jones spent every summer traveling the country and playing national AAU tournaments against future NBA players such as O.J. Mayo Blake Griffin and Kevin Love.
Jones loved basketball because that's what he played with his brother.
He grew really early in sixth or seventh grade and was about the height he is now said Hamilton who coaches basketball at Stewart County High School. They thought he would be a big time basketball star but he just stopped growing.
Jets stand in the way
When the Steelers saw New York Jets coach Rex Ryan throwing passes to Jones at his pro day they were concerned and almost certain the Jets would take Jones with the 13th overall pick in the draft four spots ahead of them.
When the Jets instead selected defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson the Steelers were relieved they would get the player they targeted in this draft.
One other reason the Steelers targeted Jones They knew there was a big drop off in edge rushers after him. If they wanted a productive one Colbert called him dominant Jones was really their final hope.
The Steelers weren't even bothered by the 4.9 seconds Jones ran in the 40 yard dash on his pro day. Colbert even joked he was glad Jones ran such a slow time because it might have turned off other teams interested in him.
It's about quickness anticipation being tenacious in your pursuit having leverage to get hands off you and long enough arms to handle tackles said Richt who saw Jones post a school record 28 sacks and 45 1/2 tackles for losses in two years with the Bulldogs.
He's not a huge guy but when tackles get concerned about a speed rush they get on the defensive and you can turn it into a bullrush and catch him and he'll do it. He can go up and over he's played in coverage he's very stout against the rush and he'll set the edge against the run. And he'll get better and better.
Richt has something of an affinity for Western Pennsylvania. When he was a player at the University of Miami his freshman roommates were Jim Kelly a Hall of Fame quarterback from East Brady Pa. and Clem Barbarino an offensive lineman from Penn Hills High School. Richt and Barbarino who lives in Plum remain best friends.
I can't really say enough good things about Jarvis Richt said. He's just a great guy. He comes in and has to sit out a year and he goes on the scout team and he starts kicking butt. He didn't have an attitude about him or anything like that. ...
He's a great person and a great leader on and off the field said McGee who recently took an administrative position with the Auburn University football team. He makes all his teammates around him better.
No comments:
Post a Comment