Sitting at his locker after Ohio State’s win over USC in the Cotton Bowl, OSU redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones was nothing but smiles.
And why not? The Buckeyes had just held the Trojans to 1.6 yards per carry and harassed USC quarterback Sam Darnold like they were a loan shark and he owed them money.
But with the bowl game now in the past, talk quickly turned to Jones’ future as a Buckeye. As a third-year sophomore, he is eligible to enter the 2018 NFL Draft. Based on his redshirt freshman season where he had an impressive 52 tackles as an interior defender, he was already showing up in mock drafts.
This season, however, those numbers dropped to just 20 tackles.
How would Jones assess his play this season?
“I played every game as hard as I can,” he said. “I haven’t really sat down and thought about my whole year, but I played solid overall.”
Jones was likely one of the players who requested feedback from the NFL on his draft position, so even though he hasn’t thought about his season, others will have done that for him.
As a defensive tackle, Jones has tremendous burst and quickness. He has the potential to be a very good pass rusher, and his energy is a constant. These are all qualities that the NFL loves up front. They are also qualities that the Buckeyes wouldn’t mind having back one more time.
But after the game, Jones only had one decision finalized.
“My decision is to enjoy this Cotton Bowl and the Big Ten Championship that we just won,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m blessed by the opportunity to be able to stay or leave, but I’m saving that for another time.”
Teammates think he is staying, including defensive end Nick Bosa, who will likely be playing his final season as a Buckeye in 2018. A few weeks ago, Bosa said Jones would be returning in order to showcase his pass-rushing skills.
“He told me about his interview. I didn’t see it, but he told me and he said he thinks I’m going to say,” Jones said. “He doesn’t have any conclusive evidence that I’m going to stay or leave, so we’ll see.”
Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on Bosa’s part.
“He doesn’t want me to leave him,” Jones said.
One other player who expects Jones to return is true freshman defensive tackle Haskell Garrett.
“I think he’s coming back and I think we’ll be a great unit with him coming back,” he said.
Garrett is absolutely right about the second part, provided he is right about the first part. Ohio State is losing defensive ends Sam Hubbard, Tyquan Lewis, and Jalyn Holmes, as well as defensive tackles Tracy Sprinkle and Michael Hill. If they could somehow keep Dre’Mont Jones in Columbus, some of the pain of those losses would be lessened.
His teammates obviously want him to return, but if he doesn’t, they would also understand his decision completely.
“I think they’d be pretty happy if I came back,” he said. “I think they’d be happy if I leave too.”
The deadline to declare for the 2018 NFL Draft is January 15.
BYW – Dre’ Mont, we hope you come back. You’re a solid force inside and we need you to help make a run at a championship in 2018!
I’m always amazed on the impact these players have on the team. Lose too many and there’s some adjustment time needed to fill the holes. “Next man up” is easy when it works, but is more often a “learning experience”. There’s definitely a talented player to fill the hole, but it doesn’t usually happen without some learning.
That’s the great thing about college football – last year’s team may have had completely different chemistry/leadership. Each year we get to watch our team improve and play better. I was always amazed at the Cooper teams that started like a house afire, then fizzled down the stretch. Tressel & Meyer teams tend to peak at year-end – which I like better!