STARKVILLE — The initial plan for Princeton Jones’ senior football season at Starkville High School was simple.
Jones was supposed to be just another returning starter — at wide receiver. He was expected to be another athletic weapon the Yellow Jackets looked to to ease their transition back to life in Class 6A of the Mississippi High School Activities Association.
The Mississippi State University football program’s decision to make a change in its coaching staff led to defensive coordinator Chris Wilson becoming the defensive line coach at the University of Georgia. Wilson’s departure meant his son, Caleb, would be moving on, thereby scraping the Yellow Jackets’ plans and their designs for Jones.
“Suddenly we had no quarterback and knew we had to come up with a plan for the spring and the following season,” Starkville High football coach Jamie Mitchell said. “With so little experience coming back, the last thing we wanted was to take a returning starter and move him to a different position. Caleb being gone meant we had no other option.”
Mitchell and his coaches scrambled to find anybody who had taken snaps from under center in their career. They turned to Jones, whose last experience at quarterback came as a ninth-grader. In Mitchell’s first season at the school, Jones led the ninth-grade team in a primarily run-based offense.
“The minute Caleb was moving and that was a done deal, I knew it was my time to step up and lead this team,” Jones said. “I believed I could do it. My coaches had faith in me and it was my time to be a leader. It was that simple.”
The transition wasn’t that simple.
But Jones worked hard in spring practice and then focused on being the leader the team needed at the start of the 2013 season. That work paid off Friday, as Jones led Starkville with 145 total yards and two touchdown passes in a 17-0 victory at Noxubee County.
For his accomplishments, Jones is The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week.
“My offensive line really let me settle down and run the offense tonight,” Jones said Friday. “I’m proud of my guys up front because they’re already great and when Monday comes next week they know I’ll be out there trying to get better.”
Even though Jones is a different player than MSU signee Gabe Myles, who led the team to the Class 5A state title last season, the 6-foot-1 Jones has shown he is athletically gifted enough to play the position. While Myles’ first instinct was to pass and run if the pocket broke down. Jones’ first instinct, like any wide receiver, was to run. Jones continues to make that adjustment and to read play calls that are now numbers on a flip-card system. The numbered card corresponds to a play listed on a wristband each offensive player is issued for the game. Therefore, Jones’ isn’t required to know a sophisticated set of plays, only what play No. 3 stands for.
While the way Starkville calls the plays in has changed, the concept of the offense is similar. The Yellow Jackets want to tun the ball and they want their quarterback to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible.
“We have weapons around Princeton, and that’s the difference between when I got here in Class 6A our first year and now,” Mitchell said. “It’s the most talented skill position players we’ve had in my time at Starkville. They’re just not experienced.”
Fifty seconds into the season opener, Jones was asked to make a big play. On Starkville’s second play of the game, Jones lofted a fade pass to the back corner of the end zone for junior receiver Raphael Leonard. Last year, Jones would’ve been focused on running the route and catching the pass inbounds. This year, he had to call the play, get the snap count correct, take the snap, put the right touch on the pass so the receiver could stay inbounds, and make sure the defensive back wasn’t in a position to make a play on the ball. Jones’ execution made it all look simple.
“That touchdown pass in the first quarter gave me all the confidence we could get the job done,” Jones said Friday. “We knew at that moment we could make plays, we had the lead and we were in control.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
