Long Beach Poly alum Jack Jones is getting a second chance at NCAA football; Jones and Arizona State confirmed Wednesday evening that the former Jackrabbit will be a Sun Devil in 2019, with two years of remaining eligibility.
Jones was a star recruit out of Poly, ranked the No. 16 recruit in the nation. He signed with USC, where he was a freshman All-American. But academic issues sidelined Jones following his sophomore season, and a burglary arrest in June of 2018 cast his future into uncertain territory. Jones pled guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor, and felony charges were dropped as part of the plea. Jones is on three years of informal probation, and spent much of the last year working on getting his grades in order at Moorpark College.
Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards said he considered Jones worthy of a second chance.
Edwards also stressed that should Jones falter in his commitment to his academics or off-field conduct, he wouldn’t remain on the team.
Jones is eligible immediately and practiced with Arizona State on Thursday.
Although he’s far from home, the circumstances were familiar for Jones. The recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach at Arizona State is Antonio Pierce, who was Jones’ head coach at Poly. Jones is also one of seven Jackrabbits on the defense, the most Poly alums to ever have signed with the Sun Devils.
The seven scholarship players are Jones, Aashari Crosswell, Jermayne Lole, Kobe Williams, Kejuan and Keon Markham, and Elijah Juarez.
Crosswell, Lole, and Williams are surefire starters, and with Kejuan Markham impressing during camp, it’s possible that there could be five Jackrabbit defensive starters at some point this year, including Crosswell, Jones, Markham, and Williams all starting in the secondary.
Antonio Pierce on X (formerly Twitter): “🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇#ForksUp https://t.co/mazHYLmhzR / X”
🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇#ForksUp https://t.co/mazHYLmhzR
