Keeping Up With UW's Jones Saw Him Get Fully Initiated

Husky Roster Review: The Southern California defensive back had his ups and downs in spring ball.

Jeron Jones changes direction in CB drill. | Dave Sizer photo

For Jeron Jones, he arrived for University of Washington spring football practice as a well regarded freshman cornerback who found out fairly quickly he was hardly exempt from the typical new-guy initiation.

In the sixth practice, on a wet and cold Saturday, Jones went through the whole gamut.

It began with freshman wide receiver Jordan Clay giving him a healthy shove to show his displeasure over Jones' tight coverage.

Not too much later, Jones used this very same aggressive approach to blanket freshman wide receiver Mason James to the point that sophomore safety Paul Mencke Jr. was freed up to make a break on the ball and come up with an uncontested interception.

Near the end of that practice, Jones was shaken up to the point he missed the next four practices, possibly going into injury protocol, though nothing was confirmed.

Welcome to Husky football.

Jeron Jones goes through a cornerback drill. | Dave Sizer photo

This is one in a series of articles -- going from 0 to 99 on the UW roster -- examining what each scholarship player and leading walk-on did in spring practice and what to expect from them going into fall camp.

The sleek 5-foot-11, 177-pound Jones had to be humbled some after owning pass receivers across Southern California by intercepting 11 passes and returning five of them for touchdowns at Mission Viejo High School.

"Jeron has gone up against the best competition week in and week out and shut them down," UW coach Jedd Fisch said, promoting his guy before spring ball began.

Jones entered the April practices much like the other freshmen, starting out on the third unit and making a second practice jump to the No. 2 defense before his injury got in the way.

Jeron Jones (24) joins a UW defensive back huddle. | Dave Sizer photo

Among his other adventures, he put a textbook open-field tackle on freshman running back Brian Bonner on a screen pass, taking him completely off his feet.

Yet it was more lessons learned for him when sophomore wide receiver Rashid Williams got behind both sophomore cornerback Dylan Robinson and Jones to easily haul in a 43-yard touchdown pass in the Spring Game.

Again, welcome to Montlake.

Jeron Jones waits for a Spring Game play to begin. | Dave Sizer photo

What he's done: Jones made it through 11 practices while dealing with his undisclosed ailment, which was enough time to get him through his Husky indoctrination. Fall Camp should be less of an adjustment.

Starter or not: As good as he is, Jones finds himself grouped with a lot of people backing up Virginia transfer Manny Karnley and the aforementioned Robinson, the projected cornerback starters. He might have to wait until 2027 to make a serious bid to become a first-teamer.