Hello: Teric Jones

Who is Teric Jones? An enigma wrapped in a riddle covered in sinew and bone and tendon that moves fast.

The Jones experience in youtube summary:

One off-tackle run in a JV game.

Jones' junior year was spent as Indiana commit Cortez Smith's backup, limiting his guru exposure. Then he did this at the Army All-American junior combine:

Although small in stature, running back Teric Jones came up big everywhere else. His 4.47 40-yard dash time was the fastest heard about all day and he put those numbers to practice in the one-on-one drills, catching several long passes down the sidelines after leaving defenders behind.

"I wanted to let everyone know that I am one of the top backs in the nation," Jones said. "I wanted to show my speed and agility and show that I am a big playmaker."

That 4.47 has been quoted as a 4.37 elsewhere, but, as always, the actual 40 time isn't the important thing. It's your 40 relative to everyone else's, and amongst a sampling of the nation's best junior recruits Jones was #1. Interest picked up after that.

Scout put together some video:

Pete Carroll was TOTALLY STOKED ABOUT HIM:

Trojans Come Calling for Jones
Detroit Cass Tech RB Teric Jones gets some love from the left coast
-by MichiganVarsity.com Mar 5, 2008

And so forth and so on. Fortunately, Jones proved to be a non-communist and stayed home.

For those concerned about his lack of status on Scout and Rivals, ESPN is already on the ball with a highly positive scouting report($):

Can attack a defense in a number of ways as a runner. Perimeter speed to take it the distance on the outside, suddenness and body-tilt to slice through the small creases in-line and deceptive strength breaking tackles. Has a natural smoothness and fluidity to him as a runner and shows good body control. A true weapon and homerun threat in space with his great burst and acceleration.

There are some concerns about his apparently inability to fight through tacklers for extra yards, but we all know the Rodriguez offense is light on pounding interior runs for the Slaton-Devine "superback" sorts. Jones is in ESPN's top 150 watch list.

Editorial Opinion: Jones' lack of playing time makes him a small risk, but he seems like a perfect fit for the spread 'n' shred and has the potential to move way up in guru estimations with a breakout senior season. He'll probably be a three star until fall; if he does well he may end up in the 100-200 range.

A potential side benefit: OMG shirtless DT Will Campbell is a Michigan verbal, but makes noises about going on visits to USC and other warm places. This is probably only a minor concern -- Brandon Graham was also an all-everything five star, also committed early, also claimed he would take trips, and then didn't go anywhere -- but it's nice to have a friend and teammate in his ear about Michigan.