Vols Kick Returner Velus Jones Jr. Named to Paul Hornung Award Watch List

The awards and honors keep coming in for Tennessee players as we head into the 2020-21 College Football season.

The awards and honors keep coming in for Tennessee players as we head into the 2020-21 College Football season. Earlier in the week it was announced that Cade Mays and Trey Smith were on the watch list for the Outland Trophy, and Smith was also added to the Wuerffel Trophy watch list yesterday. Sophomore linebacker Henry To’o To’o has arguably earned the most attention; becoming the only sophomore in the nation to make the Bednarik, Butkus, and Nagurski trophy watch lists.

Tennessee newcomer Velus Jones Jr. was also honored on Thursday when it was announced that the Southern California transfer wide receiver was listed on the Hornung Award watch list — which is annually earned by the nation’s most versatile collegiate player. The award gets its name from Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung, who won the 1956 Heisman Trophy over Tennessee legend Johnny Majors amid a multitude of controversy.

Jones has great potential at the wide receiver position, but he has earned most of his attention on special teams as a kick returner. The former USC Trojan returned 81 kicks during his time in Los Angeles for a total of 1,947 yards — which gives him a return average of roughly 24 yards per return.

The former USC returner flirted with the idea of transferring to Tennessee to reunite with his former offensive coordinator Tee Martin back in the lead up to the 2019 season, but ultimately decided to remain at the university in hopes of fighting through the adversity to get an adequate amount of playing time. Unfortunately, his plan did not come to fruition, as he ultimately chose to become a Volunteer earlier in the year.

Only 50 players in the nation are elected to the Hornung Award preseason watch list every year — this season only 8 of them came from the SEC. The finalists for the award will be named on November 14th, with the winner ultimately being announced on December 11th.

If he was to win the prestigious award, Jones would become the first Volunteer to ever win it — although Evan Berry was on the watch list leading up to the 2017 season. Jones’ first game of his final year of college eligibility is currently scheduled to come against the Charlotte 49ers, but if the SEC decides to eventually follow in the Big Ten and PAC-12’s footsteps by declaring a conference-only schedule, then his first game as a Vol would be against their arch rival from the south: the Florida Gators.