Terry Jones Jr. Has Breakout Game Against Nebraska

Written By: Ben Gillard (@benjgillard)

Coming into the Nebraska game, Terry Jones Jr. had not seen the field very often this season. This was especially surprising given the fact that the Old Dominion transfer was an All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention last year, totaling 107 tackles (4 TFLs), 4 pass breakups, and a forced fumble. Jones however fell behind Amare Ferrell on the depth chart to start the season and didn’t see the field on defense until the Hoosiers Week 2 blowout of Western Illinois. Jones played in the second half of the Charlotte game in Week 3, but despite his production (7 tackles over the two games), he did not see the field on defense against Maryland or Northwestern.

That changed this past Saturday. Amare Ferrell got moved from Rover/Stud position to Strong Safety to start the game, meaning that Jones got the start at Rover. When asked about this decision after the game, Head Coach Curt Cignetti said, “Yeah, Terry Jones started and played most of the game. Ferrell started at strong safety this week… Jones got a lot of reps at rover today. We’ll see what the tape looks like.”

After viewing the tape, it's safe to say Cignetti liked what he saw from Jones. Speaking to the media on Monday Cignetti said, “[Jones] got an opportunity on Saturday. An aggressive player. Played a lot of football. Had over a hundred tackles at ODU (Old Dominion) last season. Put Ferrell at strong safety. We like the way that played out on Saturday. I thought we played really well on defense. Created five turnovers. Had 28 points off of turnovers Saturday, which you don't see that very often…But Terry, I thought he did a nice job.” 

Jones ended the Nebraska game with 6 tackles (4 solo), 1 sack, and a QB hurry. Most importantly, Jones spent a lot of time in the Nebraska backfield providing constant pressure on Dylan Raiola, forcing bad decisions and leading to the 5 turnovers.

As the son of an NFL tight end and the grandson of former Alabama strength and conditioning coach Terry Jones, there is no question that Jones plays with physicality, and that showed on Saturday. Here’s hoping that his performance against the Cornhuskers will lead to a more consistent spot in the rotation.