A dream that comes true, isn’t always the best thing.
Smackover’s Jordan Jones grew up wanting to be a Razorback. And that’s what he did, signing with Bret Bielema out of high school. Jones caught 38 passes for 592 yards and three touchdowns in two seasons while playing for Bielema.
Then Bielema was fired and Chad Morris was hired as the new Razorbacks’ football coach.
Dream over.
Jones saw his playing time slashed and his role in the offense diminished. That dream turned into a bit of a nightmare. So, he dared to dream again.
Jones entered the NCAA transfer portal and signed with the University of Cincinnati. He reported to his new school on Thursday, less than a week after wrapping up his final exams, securing a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.
“That feels pretty good. It’s a blessing,” Jones said a few hours before setting out for his new city on Wednesday. “I’m the first one in my immediate family to graduate college so that’s pretty cool.”
Jones said he’d like to be a sports broadcaster but added he’d like to get into writing, too, when he enrolls at Cincinnati.
That’s a solid dream, too, but first, he’s still got footballs floating in his mind. Jones said he has two years of eligibility left after a medical redshirt for an injured ankle last season. He chose the Bearcats over several schools, including Hawaii. The reason came down to Dan Enos, Cincinnati’s associate head coach, who is a familiar face for Jones.
“Coach Enos, he was my first coordinator at Arkansas. Me and him have a great relationship. I’ve been knowing him since I was 16,” Jones said. “When he got the job there, he told me to stay patient with him and we’ll try to get it done. Everything worked out. I feel like that was the best fit. And they’re a pretty good team. They won 11 ball games the last couple of years. They’ve got a winning culture so I’ll try to add my few talents and see if we can win a championship.”
Cincinnati went 11-3 in the American Athletic Conference last season.
“He didn’t necessarily give me a role,” Jones said. “He just told me they were a little shorthanded at receiver and needed a real big-play, deep threat guy. That’s all I needed to hear.”
Jones was one of the fastest players on Arkansas’ team. He led the team, averaging 19.1 yards per catch in his first year on the field as a redshirt freshman.
Despite establishing himself as one of the top deep threats in the SEC, Jones saw his role change drastically when Morris took over the program. The new coach’s first move was to put Jones, his top deep threat, into the slot.
“I’ve never played slot in my life. They were trying to move me to the slot. That’s just not my game,” he said. “I’m not a slot receiver. I like to be out wide, in space isolation-type guy. That was tough.”
Arkansas went through a revolving door at quarterback and Jones was hampered by injuries.
“I just wasn’t getting as many opportunities. When I did get in the game, it was to block or be a decoy or stuff like that,” said Jones. “It was hard to stay focused and stay motivated to want to do anything because when I do get in the game, I’m not getting the ball. I’m not part of the game plan. The last two years were just tough. Dealing with my personal stuff, thinking I’m not good enough, this and that. It was a struggle. Everything happens for a reason. It taught me how to be stronger. You know, everybody don’t have your best interest. It opened my eyes. Everything happens for a reason. I’m still blessed.”
What made it even more frustrating, Jones said, was he didn’t know why.
“I never understood. I’ve never been in trouble. I’ve never had off-the-field issues. I’ve never failed a drug test,” he said. “You can ask anybody in the academic building. I’m probably one of the nicest, sweetest guys you can talk to. So, I never understood why. Like I said, everything happens for a reason.”
Even before Morris was fired at the end of last season, Jones already knew his time in Fayetteville had come to a conclusion.
“It wasn’t even necessarily about him. Not that I didn’t have a good relationship with my position coach, but he was definitely not what I was used to with Michael Smith. I won’t say we didn’t have a relationship, but we didn’t connect. He’s a great guy, a great man. I don’t have any negativity towards him. I don’t have any negativity toward Chad Morris. It just wasn’t for me,” said Jones, who said it was still difficult to leave what he thought was his dream school.
“At first I thought it was going to be easy because I had some anger and … you know. But as it got time and I had packed my stuff up, it got tough because I’ve got some good friends up there. It was pretty tough but, at the end of the day, I have to do what’s best for me and what’s best for my future.
“There’s no hard feelings towards Arkansas. I’m one-hundred percent Arkansas. I wanted to go there my whole life. I watch every Arkansas game, every sport, any day. No hard feelings to those guys, my old teammates, I’m going to miss them. I’m just ready to get to the next chapter of my life.”
It’s a brand new dream for Jones, a dream that featured Enos as his coach. Once Enos went to Cincinnati, his decision was made, even though he remained in the transfer portal for several weeks.
“That was what I was waiting on. At first, they didn’t know if they had a spot because there wasn’t any spring ball. Normally after spring ball, you have a few transfers and a few guys leaving. I was waiting for them to tell me they had a spot,” said Jones, who almost had his dream deferred.
“I was going to go to Hawaii. The day I was going to tell Hawaii I was coming, Coach Enos called me. It was a no-brainer decision after that. But it was close. It was real close. I got the call from Coach Enos and he said they had a spot and asked if I wanted it. I called my family, called my uncle who had been helping me through everything. We weighed the pros and the cons and Cincinnati was the best choice.”
Jones was scheduled to leave out from Smackover Wednesday around midnight and report to his new school at noon on Thursday. He said it was a nine-hour drive.
Due to COVID-19, his stop in Cincinnati was his first time in the city.
“I wasn’t able to take any visits. I’ve never been to Cincinnati. I’ve never been anywhere close to Cincinnati,” he said. “That was kind of tough not being able to visit. I’ve got Enos there and I know he’s got my best interests. I know he’ll watch out for me and take care of me, so, it’ll be all good.
“It would definitely be harder if I was 18 going. Now that I’m 22, I’ve played some ball. I’ve been here and there. It’s business, now.”
Jones said Arkansas probably won’t have a graduation for this year’s class. Not that he would be able to attend anyway. He returned to Smackover for about five days before setting out for his new destination.
On his last day at home, he picked out a new ride, a 2017 silver Chevrolet Silverado. Call it, his dream car.
“It’s nice, though. It’s pretty nice. It’s pretty much brand new, only got 30-something thousand miles on it,” Jones beamed. After a miserable few months, he believes life is smiling on him.
“Right now, I’m good. I’ll probably be teary eyed in a few hours when I’m getting ready to leave my family. As far as football, just getting back to hanging with the guys, getting back to playing football and winning some games, that’s what I’m excited about.”