New Mexico QB Jones suspended indefinitely
The warning sign that something was up came less than half an hour before University of New Mexico football head coach Bob Davie addressed the media in his weekly press luncheon at Dreamstyle Stadium.
The Lobos’ two-deep roster at quarterback was missing a key contributor. Gone from the list was senior Sheriron Jones, the starter in the last two games.
Davie began Tuesday’s presser by announcing that Jones had been suspended indefinitely for undisclosed reasons.
“If there becomes a time when information is more pertinent or appropriate, I would speak further to it,” Davie said. “Just staying with it’s a suspension, it’s an indefinite suspension, is as far as I’m going to go with it.”
A 6-foot-3 senior who played two seasons at Tennessee before transferring to UNM, Jones is one of three players to start at QB this season. Opening-day starter Brandt Hughes will miss the remainder of the season after injuring a shoulder in the opener, while sophomore Tevaka Tuioti has started four times and currently leads the team in virtually every passing category.
Tuioti will start this weekend’s home
coming game against Hawaii and will remain at the top of the depth chart moving forward, Davie said.
It comes just two weeks after it was revealed that Tuioti told coaches during a loss to Colorado State that Jones was the better option at quarterback. During the second half of that game, offensive coordinator Joe Dailey approached Tuioti about going into the game in the second half when Tuioti essentially deferred to Jones.
“We are a different team when Tevaka’s in there,” Davie said. “We become more explosive. He has another opportunity here.”
Davie didn’t say when the decision to discipline Jones was made, but did say the staff had decided by Sunday morning that Tuioti was going to start against Hawaii. That decision presumably came before Jones was ruled out.
Davie said Jones’s suspension was not a reflection of his reaction to being replaced during last weekend’s 23-10 loss at Wyoming. Jones started the game but was pulled in favor of Tuioti, the player listed at No. 1 on the depth chart coming out of spring ball and again at the start of preseason camp.
Tuioti threw a touchdown pass against the Cowboys and finished with 60 yards passing and 30 rushing, leading the Lobos to their only touchdown of the game. Jones passed for 143 yards but was sacked twice and never able to mount an offensive threat when he was on the field.
“Tevaka needs to play as well and as consistent as Tevaka can play,” Davie said. “I think we have a pretty good quarterback, I really do.”
With Jones and Hughes out, it leaves just two scholarship players on the active roster. Tuioti’s backup is Trae Hall, a 6-2 redshirt freshman from Henderson, Texas. Davie’s contingency plan in case both players go down is true freshman Connor Genal, a 6-5 player out of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., who was slated to use a redshirt this season.
At 2-5 overall and 0-3 in the Mountain West, UNM is merely playing out the string of another tough season. The Lobos have lost 23 of their last 31 games and are just 2-17 in conference play over that span.
NOTES
New Mexico quarterbacks are completing just 45.9 percent of their passes this season. Tuioti’s 49.4-percent completion percentage leads the team, as do his five touchdown passes and 720 yards. They have combined to throw 11 interceptions. … UNM ranks dead last in the FBS in passing defense. Opponents are averaging 348 yards. There are only six teams out of 130 in the FBS who give up at least 300 a game, and the next-closest to the Lobos is Colorado at 316. … The Lobos rank No. 127 in total defense at 494.9 yards per game.