Cincinnati Bearcats Prospect Breakdown: QB Samaj Jones

Jones is the headline UC recruit in the 2024 recruiting class.

Author:
Caleb Sisk
Updated:
Mar 5, 2024 9:15 AM EST

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Cincinnati Bearcats

TUNNEL HILL — Samaj Jones is a quarterback from the 2024 recruiting class who committed to the Bearcats and is already enrolled at Cincinnati. He is a 6-foot-1, 218-pound prospect and a three-star player according to 247Sports. Jones played high school ball at St. Joseph’s Prep School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Strengths:

Arm: He has a plus arm. He can make great tight window throws even in tough situations. He has such a smooth release and arm angle. Russ Heltman was at the opening day of spring practice and Jones was already getting some decent reps as a freshman and had just as good, if not the best, velocity compared to the other UC passers.
Throwing Inside The Numbers: He is good on the inside the number routes such as posts, slants, Ins, and the typical drags. He hits these the majority of the time when passing and going through progression and does a good job attacking the middle of the field.
Running: He is ELITE running the ball. That is all there is to say. He runs as well as you’d want him to.
Physical: He is not afraid to lower his shoulder.
Speed: Very fast for a QB. NFL-level speed is fast for his frame, this is a great trait.
Athletic/Vertical: Hurdling a defender is typically out of the question for a quarterback but for Jones that is not the case. He is a pure athlete and shows crazy athleticism.
Ball Carrier Vision: He has great ball carrier vision when looking to shake a defender.
Throw On The Run: He shoes true upside throwing the ball on the move. This comes with being a dual-threat guy but he very much so has this as a lethal weapon.

Areas To Improve:

Read Progression: A lot of the time he is keyed in on one target the whole play. Although that could be designed it’s going to be very important he can read the full field at all times, especially in a powerhouse conference.
Outside The Numbers Throws: I’d like to see him hit some more outside throws. This isn’t me saying he isn’t good at this by any means but it’s hard to give him that title when he didn’t show it very much.

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