Canes Sign Talented Defensive Tackle Artavius Jones

Blountstown High School defensive tackle Artavius Jones is a Miami Hurricane!

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Dec 20, 2023 8:24 AM EST

In this story:

It's not often that the Miami Hurricanes land top-notch players from the rural areas just outside of Tallahassee. Today is one of those rare occasions.

Artavius Jones

Size: 6-foot-4, 310 pounds

Position: Defensive Tackle

High School: Blountstown (Fla.) High School

Recruitment: Miami won out with Florida State, UCF, Colorado, and many other schools that wanted Jones in their programs. Coming from a 1A program in the Florida Panhandle and still earning numerous offers across the country helps to define just how much talent Jones possesses.

Strengths: Size and raw power! Jones is a massive frame that even double teams sometimes struggle to move out of the way. Most high school teams ran away from his side of the formation because he's like a wall.

Areas to Improve: Jones needs to keep his pad level down and mix up his pass-rushing moves. He's still learning the position and how to counter what offensive linemen will do, but Jones has a world of upside once he's consistently adding moves that keep the competition guessing.

From the 2024 Miami Commitments and Evaluations page, here’s what AllHurricanes wrote about Jones:

Jones brings size, power, and athleticism to Coral Gables. To help define his talent, Jones has been athletic enough to play tight end even though he was over 280 pounds last season. Jones also broke down and moved laterally after going full-steam ahead, which allowed him to chase down ball carriers from a variety of places at or near the line of scrimmage. Seeing a defender run down an opponent that's 100 pounds lighter, now that was eye-opening!
While pass rushing, he often created first contact and jolted his opponent and then used his quickness to create sacks and tackles for loss in the backfield. Watching him run might have been the best way to project Jones to the college level.

With Jones living 45 minutes from Tallahassee, it's a fantastic effort by the Miami coaching staff to gain the talented defensive tackle's signed letter of intent.