On Tuesday UC football head coach Butch Jones announced that Demetrius Jones was no longer with the football program that gave him a second chance. One day later freshman basketball player Lance Stephenson decided he would declare himself eligible for the NBA draft.
Jones, who was the number two rated dual threat quarterback nationally in 2006 (Who was number one? Tim Tebow, who made Jones and the UC defense look silly in the 2010 Sugar Bowl) when he graduated from Morgan Park High School in Chicago, signed to play football for Charlie Weis and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He got the call to start against Georgia Tech to open the 2007 season.
It was a memorable debut for Irish fans, who hoped to see the newest star recruit lead the Irish back to their glory. Instead, Jones was sacked once and he fumbled the ball twice. He didn’t even make it to halftime under center, and he decided to transfer to Cincinnati.
He sat out the 2007 season due to transfer rules and shoulder surgery, and never got much of a chance to see the field for Brian Kelly’s Bearcats. He took one snap as the quarterback, a run of five yards against Louisville in 2008. Last season he made the move to the defensive side of the ball, totaling 36 tackles and one interception in ten games, mostly as a backup linebacker.
Jones shakes hands with Brian Kelly after UC beat Fresno State in September of 2009 (Cincinnati Enquirer)
“I would just say that we have certain expectations that we live by,” UC head coach Butch Jones told Bill Koch of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “It starts with academics and going to class. The only thing I’ll say is that he’s made a decision and he’s moving on. I wish him the best in his endeavors.”
Jones’s journey from one of the top programs in America to a rising program made headlines, and for good reason. Jones didn’t expect to move to linebacker last season, but with Tony Pike at quarterback, there wasn’t much room for Jones behind the center.
Jones got one snap for UC at quarterback. This five yard gain in 2008 at Louisville was his lone chance (Getty Images)
Would Jones have been better suited to sit back and wait for Brian Kelly at Notre Dame? Since Jones couldn’t be reached for comment, we don’t know yet, but it is an interesting idea to bat around. If Jones redshirted one year and let Jimmy Clausen run the Irish offense, maybe, just maybe, Jones would have had some time to learn and compete.
But Jones has something that no player in the Irish program has, BCS experience. We’ll see what Jones decides to do next.
Meanwhile, Lance Stephenson was assumed to be a “one and done” player from the time he signed at UC last July. Even after he told the media he’d be back for another year in March, Stephenson saw NBA dollars and ran. UC head coach Mick Cronin couldn’t argue with Stephenson’s decision.
Cronin said, “His personal circumstances dictate that he try to continue his development in the NBA while he’s getting paid. He’s going to get that opportunity to do it while alleviating the (financial) pressure on his family.”
While I don’t follow the UC basketball program as passionately as some people do, I really wished Lance Stephenson could have stayed. However, if someone called me tomorrow and guaranteed me I’d make a million bucks next year, I’d probably skip out on school too.
“You can always go back to college,” one person told me last night. Tough to argue with that.
For UC fans of basketball and football, the past two days may have brought rough news, but after two straight Big East titles on the gridiron the loss of Jones won’t be too much to overcome for Butch Jones and his staff.
Butch Jones isn't worried about losing Demetrius Jones (Cincinnati Enquirer)
For Cronin, a freshman who was redshirted this season provides hope that the next season will be another season of improvement in Clifton. “We didn’t spend three years recruiting Lance, he said. “And we didn’t build our team around Lance. He was a piece we added to the puzzle for last year. We had already recruited Sean Kilpatrick and he’s a really good player. He’s going to be great for this program.”
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Tomorrow I’ll take a few moments to look back at the April weekend in 2009 that brought Mark Martin his first win in nearly four years. Get ready, it’s going to be fun. Have a great Thursday, thanks for reading…
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