hawaiiansteeler
10-25-2015, 12:30 AM
Perseverance pays off for Steelers backup quarterback Landry Jones
By Mark Kaboly
Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015
http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=DgENh fvYt31Rb2iN2FdeGs$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYsvHgRhpWXHhiF uvdEZkLvyWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4 uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_C ryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg
Landry Jones statistics at Oklahoma:
Year GS Com Att Pct Yds TD INT Rate W L
2009 11 261 449 58.1 3,198 26 14 130.8 8 3
2010 14 405 617 65.6 4,718 38 12 146.3 12 2
2011 13 355 562 63.2 4,463 29 15 141.6 10 3
2012 13 367 555 66.1 4,267 30 11 144.6 10 3
Totals 51 1,388 2,183 63.6 16,646 123 52 141.5 40 11
Sports always have come easily for Landry Jones — football more than any other.
In a tiny football-crazed town like Artesia, N.M., where the stadium's capacity (6,500) can accommodate more than half of the city's 11,301 residents, the starting quarterback is a big deal.
Jones was a big deal, and football was a big deal to Jones.
He threw for 89 touchdowns (45 in his senior year) and led Artesia High to two of the school's 28 state titles. Jones wasn't the only Division I athlete to come out of Artesia, but he surely was the best when he signed to play at Oklahoma in 2007.
“We have had players go to the next level but not many D-I athletes,” Artesia coach Cooper Henderson said. “Everybody expected him to do super well everywhere he went.”
Jones was aware of that, even at a young age.
“Once I started getting recruited, everybody knew me,” he said. “Everybody always was telling me that I was going to be in the NFL. Coming out of high school, my whole theme of who I am was dependent on how I did in football. Then it was all taken away.”
As Jones prepares for what likely will be his first professional start Sunday for the Steelers against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, he can't help but look back at the day it was all given back to him.
That day is when he accepted his faith back in his life.
WHEN IT ALL CHANGED
Jones was convinced he was going to walk on to the Oklahoma football field in 2008 and rip the starting quarterback job from Sam Bradford, who had thrown 36 touchdowns to lead the Sooners to a 11-3 record and a Fiesta Bowl win over West Virginia as a freshman the previous season.
Jones enrolled early to get a jump on the competition — one that never materialized. Bradford not only retained his job but also won the 2008 Heisman Trophy.
“I was so jacked up that I thought I was going to in there and light the world on fire. Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know,” Jones said. “There was no way in the world that I was ever going to play in front of Sam. Whenever you are young, you get things in your mind, and you don't really understand how the world works.”
Jones redshirted, and though it might be an overstatement to say he spiraled out of control, he turned into something he didn't like. It was, Jones said, because football no longer was a significant part of his life.
“When football got taken away, I kind of lost who I was for a while. I went through a time of trying different things — going out and drinking and doing all of that,” Jones said. “I was trying to make that fill the void inside of me, but it just amplified the issues that I had going on.”
Finally, Jones had enough.
Talking with his cousin inside their dorm room one day, Jones decided to make a drastic change in his life.
He had grown up in a Christian home, but his faith was not evident in his daily life — until that conversation with his cousin.
to read rest of article:
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/9307719-74/jones-football-steelers#ixzz3pYQZpeBm
By Mark Kaboly
Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015
http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=DgENh fvYt31Rb2iN2FdeGs$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYsvHgRhpWXHhiF uvdEZkLvyWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4 uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_C ryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg
Landry Jones statistics at Oklahoma:
Year GS Com Att Pct Yds TD INT Rate W L
2009 11 261 449 58.1 3,198 26 14 130.8 8 3
2010 14 405 617 65.6 4,718 38 12 146.3 12 2
2011 13 355 562 63.2 4,463 29 15 141.6 10 3
2012 13 367 555 66.1 4,267 30 11 144.6 10 3
Totals 51 1,388 2,183 63.6 16,646 123 52 141.5 40 11
Sports always have come easily for Landry Jones — football more than any other.
In a tiny football-crazed town like Artesia, N.M., where the stadium's capacity (6,500) can accommodate more than half of the city's 11,301 residents, the starting quarterback is a big deal.
Jones was a big deal, and football was a big deal to Jones.
He threw for 89 touchdowns (45 in his senior year) and led Artesia High to two of the school's 28 state titles. Jones wasn't the only Division I athlete to come out of Artesia, but he surely was the best when he signed to play at Oklahoma in 2007.
“We have had players go to the next level but not many D-I athletes,” Artesia coach Cooper Henderson said. “Everybody expected him to do super well everywhere he went.”
Jones was aware of that, even at a young age.
“Once I started getting recruited, everybody knew me,” he said. “Everybody always was telling me that I was going to be in the NFL. Coming out of high school, my whole theme of who I am was dependent on how I did in football. Then it was all taken away.”
As Jones prepares for what likely will be his first professional start Sunday for the Steelers against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, he can't help but look back at the day it was all given back to him.
That day is when he accepted his faith back in his life.
WHEN IT ALL CHANGED
Jones was convinced he was going to walk on to the Oklahoma football field in 2008 and rip the starting quarterback job from Sam Bradford, who had thrown 36 touchdowns to lead the Sooners to a 11-3 record and a Fiesta Bowl win over West Virginia as a freshman the previous season.
Jones enrolled early to get a jump on the competition — one that never materialized. Bradford not only retained his job but also won the 2008 Heisman Trophy.
“I was so jacked up that I thought I was going to in there and light the world on fire. Sometimes you just don't know what you don't know,” Jones said. “There was no way in the world that I was ever going to play in front of Sam. Whenever you are young, you get things in your mind, and you don't really understand how the world works.”
Jones redshirted, and though it might be an overstatement to say he spiraled out of control, he turned into something he didn't like. It was, Jones said, because football no longer was a significant part of his life.
“When football got taken away, I kind of lost who I was for a while. I went through a time of trying different things — going out and drinking and doing all of that,” Jones said. “I was trying to make that fill the void inside of me, but it just amplified the issues that I had going on.”
Finally, Jones had enough.
Talking with his cousin inside their dorm room one day, Jones decided to make a drastic change in his life.
He had grown up in a Christian home, but his faith was not evident in his daily life — until that conversation with his cousin.
to read rest of article:
http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/9307719-74/jones-football-steelers#ixzz3pYQZpeBm