Duke quarterback Jones sparks North to win in Senior Bowl

MOBILE, Ala. — Daniel Jones got his bad Senior Bowl moments out of the way long before kickoff.

The Duke pivot threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score in the third quarter to lead the North to a 34-24 victory over the South Saturday, putting a nice finishing touch on the weeklong job interview with NFL teams.

“Just showing the poise and showing kind of a comfort in the offence is something they wanted to see,” Jones said.

“At times, I’m not sure I did great with that, to be honest. But here in the game, I think I did get comfortable and I got into a rhythm. Hopefully that showed them something and showed them I had the ability to do that and had the resiliency to do that.”

Jones turned in an efficient 8-of-11, 115-yard passing performance. Then, North Carolina State’s Ryan Finley took over in the fourth quarter with similar results.

Jones, one of 11 junior graduates in the game, and Finley ignited a North team that trailed 12-3 at halftime only to score on its first five drives of the second half. He at least had the comfort of a familiar city since Jones is training in Mobile with David Morris at QB Country leading up to the combine.

North coach Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders liked how Jones rebounded from mistakes early in the week.

“He showed a lot of mental toughness,” Gruden said. “He had some tough moments. He threw two interceptions in 7-on-7 in practice, which is uncommon. But he came back the next day and the next day and the next day and showed the right stuff.”

The quarterbacks weren’t quite as heralded as last year’s group that included Baker Mayfield (No. 1 overall) and Josh Allen (No. 7). But Missouri’s Drew Lock and Jones are two of the top quarterback prospects in the draft, a group that also includes underclassmen Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State and Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray,

Lock was solid in playing the first quarter for the North, going 9 of 14 for 57 yards. Finley was 7 of 11 for 83 yards.