Jarron Jones was too big to play Pop Warner football. The Notre Dame recruit had to work much harder than others to make up for lost time.
Photo by Chris Cecere
Years before becoming the biggest blue-chip recruit in the history of the
Aquinas Institute (Rochester, N.Y.) football program,
Jarron Jones watched his two older brothers play for the Little Irish, roaming the sidelines as the biggest fourth grader his coach ever saw.
"You thought he was a seventh- or eighth-grader," Aquinas coach Chris Battaglia recalled. "He was a huge kid, but he was a little kid."
Jarron Jones' older brothers played at Aquinas Institute.
Photo by Tom Lemming
When Jones followed in his brothers' footsteps and finally enrolled at Aquinas, he brought with him a big frame but no experience in the trenches since he was always too tall and too heavy to play Pop Warner football. Even so, Battaglia saw something that prompted him to issue his inexperienced charge a challenge during his first days in pads.
"I said, 'There are not many people built like you,'" Battaglia said. "When you look at him, he looks like a professional football player. I always thought if he worked hard and practiced at it, he could get a really nice scholarship."
Today, the 6-foot-6, 290-pound Jones is months away from signing his National Letter of Intent to attend Notre Dame, committing to the Fighting Irish this summer after hearing recruiting pitches from virtually every national power in the land that wants him to anchor its defensive front.
Before becoming the
No. 13 prospect in the Class of 2012 and the highest-ranked recruit in Aquinas history, Battaglia pushed Jones beyond merely looking the part.
"He was going to be much harder on me," Jones said. "He made me work for everything. He was harder on me than he was with everyone else."
Jarron Jones is 6-foot-6, 290 pounds.
Photo by Terry Wherry
Even after Battaglia's first challenge during thatfreshman year, Jones was still what the coach recalled as being "very, very raw." His sophomore year, he saw spot duty but did not emerge as a full-time starter because, as Battaglia put it, "We just felt like he needed to work out some things."
While Jones improved his work ethic in the classroom and weight room, his highlight video attracted attention from all corners of the country. His size and skill, even if only seen in spurts, sparked offers that started with Boston College before others from virtually every BCS program.
Then came a breakthrough junior season — a 68-tackle, 10-sack showing that helped him emerge as a must-have recruit everywhere from Alabama to Oregon. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year, Battaglia was getting between three and four calls daily from coaches who saw Jones as their next star defensive tackle.
When it came time to make a decision, he found everything he wanted on a campus where he will soon play in the shadows of Touchdown Jesus.
"Notre Dame is pretty much like my high school," said Jones, who also considered North Carolina, Penn State, Syracuse and Virginia Tech. "They have a great support system. They laid down the same strictness as my family, my foundation and my coaches. Going to a Catholic high school gave me a lot of opportunities."
Among them?
"It's helped me to be the best human I can be," Jones said. "It's more than just academics that they taught me. It's about being the best person I can be – spiritually, mentally, socially."
Physically, Jones has been a specimen since grammar school. Since coming to Aquinas, though, he has accepted the challenge Battaglia presented him and evolved into one of the top players in the Class of 2012.
"I think he still has a lot of work to do," Battaglia said. "(But) the potential for him to be a really good player is there."
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