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Jeremy Jones left Rice University and his home state of Texas for Spokane after deciding to focus solely on basketball. The redshirt sophomore enrolled at Rice with the intention of being a dual-sport athlete. But, after his freshman campaign where he played a supporting role on the basketball team, and taking a redshirt with the football team, the San Antonio native decided that his future lay on the basketball court at Gonzaga.
After sitting out a season due to the NCAA’s transfer rules, Jones will be eager to demonstrate what he can contribute to the team beyond just the practice court.
Gonzaga is loaded with talented wing-players, but none possess the physical profile of Jones. Standing at 6’6” and blessed with tremendous length (hoops buzzword alert), the man who goes by “Too Long Jones” on Twitter has the characteristics to be a disruptive force.
During his lone freshman season at Rice, Jones notched 21 steals in 24 games, good for fourth on the team. Jones also shot 50% from the field and 33.3% from the three-point line. While his stat line of 2.2 ppg and 2.8 rpg from that season doesn’t initially pop out at you, Jones’ production was trending upward at the end of the year.
With his athletic energies focused solely on basketball, and after a year spent working on his game with Gonzaga’s staff, there is optimism that Jones will emerge as a ready and steady contributor at the small forward position for the 2016-17 season.
Following the graduations of Kyle Dranginis and fellow transfer, Byron Wesley, over the last two years, the opportunity is ripe for Jones to step into the roles vacated by those two players as a slashing and disruptive wing who can also step into the paint and clean up the glass.
Gonzaga fans have only had limited opportunities to see Jones beyond the exhibition setting of Kraziness in the Kennel and some YouTube highlights, but with the season less than three weeks away, the mystery man will soon be able to show fans what he can bring to the table.