Jack Jones is enjoying life these days. He’s playing on a team that loves him, for a coach that appreciates him, and in a training camp in his hometown.
No one is more visibly hyped in camp than Jones. He’s dancing during drills, celebrating every win on every play, and frustrated with every catch he allows. And even when you’d think he’d be able to take a breather, he’s asking for more to do.
Jones is a starting cornerback on this team. The only set starting outside corner. And yet when special teams drills start, he’s right there looking to take part.
On punts, he’s fielding and returning them. And on kickoffs — with the neew rules in place — he’s actually trying his hand (or foot, as it were) to see if he can do that as well.
“I’m an athlete,” Jones said of his special teams work. “In my head I can do everything, any position. I just go out there and just do it. And it falls how it falls.”
The fans in attendance eat up Jones’s emotion and enthusiasm.
The Long Beach native and star at high school football powerhouse Long Beach Poly undoubtedly has a lot of Raiders fans who have been fans of his long before he donned Silver & Black.
He can feel the love from those fans. He feeds on it and gives that love back throughout practice. Several times after he returned a punt, he took a detour on his way back to his spot to swing by the stands and hype up the crowd, even slapping hands on his way by.
His head coach Antonio Pierce has also long been a fan. This is Pierce’s third stint as Jones’s coach. He was his head coach at Long Beach Poly and his defensive coordinator at Arizona State.
Pierce and Jones clearly have a special bond. They understand each other. Most importantly, Pierce understands Jones. As a former player turned head coach, Pierce lets his players be themselves because he says it empowers them. The results late last season after Pierce took over and Jones was added to the team, show that approach works. And it has Jones enthusiastically wanting to contribute everywhere he possibly can.
That doesn’t mean he will be doing anything other than his lockdown cornerback duties come the season, but, hey, you never know, right?