Shawnee Heights senior excelling in year two of playing football: 'He was just a natural'

Shawnee Heights senior defensive back Jaye Jones had played just a few games of football in his life when messages from college coaches started coming in.

Jones didn’t take up the sport until last year, but his play quickly attracted attention.

Jones was known primarily as a basketball player at Shawnee Heights. It wasn’t that he didn’t have an interest in football. Jones said he had hoped to play previously, but his father wanted to shield him from potential concussions.

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Jaye Jones gets the greenlight to play football for Shawnee Heights

In the spring of his sophomore year, following basketball season, Jones finally got the green light from his father to try his hand at football.

When summer rolled around, he joined the team for off-season workouts. Shawnee Heights coach Jason Swift wasn’t going to turn away a speedy six-foot, 180-pound athlete, no matter how inexperienced he might be.

“I was fortunate enough to have coached him in middle school basketball, so I knew how athletic he was,” Swift said. “I told him: ‘You’d be a great football player. Come on out.’

“He was a raw talent. Didn’t know a lot about football. But he’s a great kid. Very coachable. Works his tail off. We thought we could do something with that.”

Due to his natural athleticism, Jones shined in summer workouts. Understandably, once they put the pads on, he faced a bit of a learning curve.

“I think everyone knew the plays more than me, but the physical part of it I could handle pretty well from the beginning,” Jones said. “I didn’t really feel behind because I’m pretty athletic. It took me probably a week or so. The plays aren’t that hard to learn, so after about a week I pretty much knew what to do.”

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Jaye Jones gets a crash course in football

It was in those early weeks of last season that occurred what can only seem like irony. Jones got injured. Specifically, he broke his wrist in practice leading up to the beginning of the season. Not realizing the extent of the injury until much later, Jones played through it. He found a fit at the safety position.

“(Defensive Coordinator Luke) Coffman actually suggested that I play safety because of just how I move and can play,” Jones said. “I owe him the world, honestly. Without him, I wouldn’t know how to play football. He taught me the coverages, how to cover, just how to play the game in general.

“Coach Swift helped a lot as the offensive coordinator. He showed me how receivers give tendencies, how you can tell if it’s going to be a run or a pass play, what to expect.”

Despite a broken wrist and with only a few practices under his belt, Jones stepped in as a starting defensive back. 

“Once he got out here, he was like a fish in water. He was just natural,” Swift said. “He understands the game. He understands how to cover people, which he learned as a multisport athlete. He’s just naturally built to play this game.”

Swift, Coffman and the T-Bird coaching staff gave Jones a crash course in football basics in preparation for the season.

“If you’ve never tackled anyone, it’s hard to just come out here and be told, ‘Tackle someone,’: Swift said. "But we teach the proper way to tackle, and once you’re exposed to that and build confidence, it’s just like hitting a baseball off a tee or shooting free throws. He naturally got better and better because of his work ethic.” 

“Guarding people, especially a lot faster people, is like basketball,” Jones said. “The backpedal was the hardest thing for me at the very beginning. But now it’s pretty good. Everything else was pretty easy because it’s like basketball. Turning my head and running with someone, playing the ball in the air. That’s pretty much like basketball.” 

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Once the games started, Jones endured the growing pains of learning a new sport, improving each week. Jones showed enough to earn second-team All-County from The Topeka Capital-Journal at the end of his junior season.  

But some college coaches believe Jones was just scratching the surface. 

“I was real excited when I started getting emails and texts from college coaches,” Jones said. “It kind of happened out of nowhere. I couldn’t believe it really.” 

“That’s what makes football a great sport,” Swift said. “You don’t have to have years of training and club or whatever. If you can go out there and block and tackle, and you want to be out there, you can do great things.”

The wrist injury, which was detected following the football season, knocked Jones out of basketball until late in the season. He returned in time to play in a few games. Jones said he plans to play basketball again this winter. But he’s fully dedicated to football now.

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Jaye Jones was voted a captain by his peers in his second year playing

Jones leads the T-Birds with 28 tackles from the safety position: 12 solo tackles, 15 assisted tackles and one tackle for loss. The T-Birds have surrendered just 17.8 points per game en route to a 3-2 record. 

“I just try to fly downhill as much as I can and hit whoever I see,” Jones said. 

“His knowledge of the game has grown,” Swift said. “Early on last year, sometimes he would lose his ‘key,’ get caught up and lose focus on what he was supposed to do. This year, he knows his assignment and he’s sound.”

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Swift pointed out that, while Jones’ athletic ability is impressive, his leadership is equally impressive. He noted that, with just one year of football experience, Jones was voted a captain by his peers.

“I think they saw the hard work I put in in the weight room and in practice in general,” Jones said. “As a captain, you have to try to pick everyone’s head up, be a leader, and work the hardest. Try to do everything right.”

Now that he’s excelling on the field and considering college opportunities, Jones said his father isn’t worried about injuries.

“He loves me playing football. He’s at every game,” Jones said. “He just makes sure I work the hardest at whatever I do.”

Tips or story ideas? Email Seth Kinker at skinker@gannett.com or DM him on Twitter @SethKinker.