Photo Courtesy of Chandler Jones’ Twitter Account (@1OfficialCJ)
Bobby Petrino needed secondary help in this class, especially with the loss of CB Trumaine Washington and the likely loss of Jaire Alexander. He couldn’t have done any better than getting Under Armour All-American Chandler Jones.
The 5’10 173 lbs CB is everything you could want in a shutdown Corner. Yes, he is a shutdown CB. Watching his highlights, I was struck by the fact there weren’t as many highlights of him defending passes. I also watched highlights of a couple of games his Miami Central team played this year and it was the same thing.
Teams rarely threw in his direction or to his side of the field for that matter. When they did throw to his side, it was often to a slot receiver, not his primary cover. The respect teams gave him told me a lot.
Jones has great flexibility and his motion is fluid not mechanical. These factors, along with his speed, help him to stay with his receiver and make the windows QBs have to throw through extremely tight. Jones is great at recognizing routes and jumping them as well.
Even when a catch is made, he’s an excellent tackler. What’s interesting is a lot of his highlights showed him helping in the run game. He wasn’t afraid to take on RBs and bring them down.
Photo Courtesy of Chandler Jones’ Twitter Account (@1OfficialCJ)
I thought his physicality was impressive. Press coverage could be something he excels at here. He manhandles WRs when needed. If there is a lot of hand fighting when a pass is in the air, he can win that battle as well.
His hands aren’t frying pans. Jones catches the ball well. Don’t expect him to drop many interceptions. His athleticism and speed help him to be able to compete with bigger receivers for jump balls and stay with smaller, speedier guys. In one instance, he was lined up on a smaller, quicker slot receiver.
One other attribute I liked was that Jones always seems to get his head around to find the ball. That was a criticism I had of our DBs at times this year. Jones is good at finding the ball in flight to make a play on it.
What I believe Coach Petrino got in Jones is a guy in the mold of Jaire Alexander. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Chandler Jones can become as good as Jaire was.
Check out his Hudl highlights below and see if you see what I see.
