WR Jones’ return a welcome sight
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M junior Hezekiah Jones had time on his hands this past summer while continuing to recover from a ruptured Achilles tendon during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the eclectic receiver dove into some deep reading.
His most recent endeavor? “‘ The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life,’ ” Jones said, describing it as an absorbing probe of “ancient history.”
Then he brought up another preferred title painstakingly authored by A&M coach Jimbo Fisher.
“Jimbo’s playbook,” Jones said with a smile about the multilayered exploration of offense. “That’s one of my favorite books. Those are my two favorite books right now.”
While Fisher appreciates his veteran receiver’s willingness to expand his literary bounds, he’s especially thankful Jones also kept his eyes locked on the pages that will help him while inbounds. Jones, a former Stafford star, until last Saturday had not played since the 2018 season, Fisher’s first at A&M, because of the severe injury.
“It’s been awhile,” a reflective Jones said Monday as the No. 7 Aggies (4-1) prepared to play at South Carolina (2-3) on Saturday. “I’ve missed my teammates, for sure. The first day of fall camp (in 2019), I ruptured my Achilles early in practice.”
Jones (5-11, 180) finally returned with a flourish over the weekend in A&M’s 4231 victory over Arkansas at Kyle Field. He caught five passes for 47 yards, including two for third-down conversions in the first quarter, and most importantly, provided on-field leadership for a freshfaced receiving corps in desperate need of guidance from a peer.
“To be able to come back and have a game like that, with some big thirddown conversions, and to block very well … we were also able to move ( Jones) around because he can playmultiple positions and be a mismatch on somebody,” Fisher said. “The thing there’s no substitute for is experience, and he’s also versatile … Hez has been a very good team leader as well, so it was great to have him back.”
Two weeks before the season started, receiver and team leader Jhamon Ausbon opted out of playing his senior year, and said he would begin preparing for an NFL career. Fellow veterans Cam Buckley and Caleb Chapman suffered season- ending injuries along the way, leaving Jones as the lone upperclassman on the depth chart among A&M receivers.
Jones is close friends with Ausbon and said he supports his teammate “1,000 percent” in regard to his decision to forgo his senior year.
“But I just know with him gone, I have a lot more of a load to carry on the leadership side — and with Cam Buckley and Caleb Chapman out,” Jones said of tutoring touted freshmen like Demond Demas and Moose Muhammad III. “Being one of the only veterans in the group, I have to take a big leadership role … to be in that leadership role (Ausbon) oncewas in.”
Jones said a silver lining in missing last season was learning how much he truly missed football — and how he learned a new hobby to keep his idle hands moving.
“I learned I can sew,” Jones said. “I got a sewing machine and started sewing.”
Jones said his specialty is designing pants and that his new hobby will earn much more attentionwhen football season wraps in the winter.
“During the (COVID) quarantine, there wasn’t much to do but stay in the house,” Jones said. “I just looked on YouTube and (toldmyself ) Iwas trying to be a fashion designer — that I was trying to get in the game. I bought a sewingmachine, and the rest is history.
“When I go back home and sew for an hour or two, it gets my mind off football and school and everything.”
A&Msenior quarterback Kellen Mond is one of Jones’ roommates and perhaps a future beneficiary of Jones’ blossoming embroidery skills. For now, however, Mond gladly will take what Jones provides on the field for the Aggies, who are trying to make their first four-team College Football Playoff. Mond wasn’t positive if he’d be able to throwto Jones again during a game following the Achilles injury. Now Jones is back as one of Mond’s most flexible targets.
“He’s a veteran guy, a guy I have chemistry with, and a guy who understands what we’ re trying to accomplish on offense,” Mond said. “Hez understands how to read coverages, and he understands holes in zone coverages. It was huge to get him back, but this was still his first game ( back).
“I look for him to continue to grow and be a really elite receiver for us.”