Neither Jeff Jones nor his Washburn coach, Giovan Jenkins, have told me where Jones plans to attend college but my prediction is Minnesota.
The Rivals.com four-star running back is the state’s No. 1 prospect and he will announce at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Washburn High School whether he will make the Gophers or Iowa State his college choice. Jones values relationships and that’s why I believe the choice will be Minnesota.
The Gophers have been recruiting Jones for a couple of years and offered him a scholarship after his sophomore season. Becoming involved early with Minnesota led to a verbal commitment by Jones about a year ago. Later he opened up the recruiting process, exploring other schools but the Gophers didn’t waver in their commitment to him.
Jones likes Gophers head coach Jerry Kill. He is aware of Kill’s reputation for taking care of his players, looking out for their best interests.
Loyalty is important to Jones who could have left Washburn and not finished his prep football career there. Instead of choosing a state power team, he stayed with Jenkins and Washburn, a Minneapolis City Conference program that doesn’t have the roster depth of long ago when the Millers could play with any school in Minnesota.
Jones liked Kenith Pope, the former Iowa State running backs coach no longer with the program. Pope’s absence probably hurts the Cyclones’ chances of securing Jones who scored 44 touchdowns his senior year.