Last weekend was the start of the high school football season and 2016 running back Tony Jones Jr. (5-11, 206, Bradenton, FL IMG Academy) had quite the first game as he scored two touchdowns and rushed for over 100 yards in IMG’s big win over Godby.
“It was a pretty good game,” Jones said. “The defense did really good and the coaches had a good game plan for us. The line did really well for us too and I had a good game.”
After Jones had a big run in the first half he celebrated by doing the Gator Chomp and he says that it’s something he may continue doing this year.
“I don’t know I just felt doing the Gator Chomp,” Jones said. “We’ll see but the Gators are in my top three right now so I might keep doing it.”
The Florida Gators have long been a top school for Jones and he says two other schools are hard after him right now as well.
“Florida, South Florida and Cincinnati are my top three,” Jones said. “I don’t have any plans to announce right now, I plan to wait awhile before I do that.”
This past summer the Florida Gators hosted Jones and his father on campus twice with the last one coming on Friday Night Lights where the 2016 running back got to work out with running backs coach Brian White.
“I enjoyed it, it was pretty good,” Jones said. “I got to hang out with Coach White and I did two one-on-one drills. It was a good time there.”
Juniors don’t have as much communication with college coaches as seniors do, but Jones says he calls the Florida Gators quite often.
“I keep in touch with Coach White a lot,” Jones said. “He tells me that he wants me to be a Gator and that he likes my style of running. He said that he likes my size but that he wants me to continue getting faster on the field.”
Now that football season has started for high school teams you will only see prospects on campus for games and Jones says he will be a frequent visitor in Gainesville this fall.
“Coach White has invited me up for some games,” Jones said. “I’ll probably go up for two or three games this fall.”
INSIDER BUZZ: Jones is becoming one of Florida’s top targets for the Class of 2016 and as the season goes on I think the Florida Gators interest will only grow as Jones is likely to have a big year at IMG Academy. He’s down close to 10-pounds from last season. When time comes for Jones to decide I expect Florida to be right in the mix for him.