Prospect profile: Q Jones, Fountain-Fort Carson

Q Jones

Austin White

July 19, 2020 @ 01:27 PM

There was no stopping Fountain-Fort Carson running back [player_tooltip player_id="22588" first="Q" last="Jones"] in 2018. The then-sophomore had racked up 1,406 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns in the middle of the Trojans ninth game of the season against Regis Jesuit, averaging the third most yards per game in all of Class 5A. However, a freak twist of fate resulted in a broken leg for Jones, who missed the rest of 2018 and all but one game in 2019. Now with the 2020 season on the horizon, hopefully, Jones is ready to show off those 2018 legs once again in his senior season.<img class="size-medium wp-image-35019 alignright" src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Jones-posing-226x300.jpg" alt="" width="226" height="300" /> “Obviously (Jones) has the speed and he’s developed that over the last couple of years, but I think he runs with great vision and he is very physical at the point of attack,” FFC coach Jake Novotny said. “He is also very good at making people miss in the open field and really more than anything, he’s so strong and hard to bring down. He’s not going to be brought down on the first tackle or hit.” The speed is obvious in the 5-foot-11, 180 pound RB since he posted a 4.34 40-yard dash time prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Novotny. As for playing at the next level, Novotny, a former college football coach at CSU-Pueblo, believes Jones, “checks all the boxes” due to the back having what Novotny describes as “the big three.” “(Jones) does everything right in the classroom, he does everything right on the field and does everything right from a social standpoint,” Novotny said, “He knows that in order for him (to play college football), not only is the playing field part good, but it all matters. “Everything he does, he has football in mind because he wants to get to the next level.” Jones currently carries a 3.8 GPA while taking accelerated/AP classes while staying out of any trouble. Novotny believes the work ethic in Jones can be seen by the RB’s recovery from the freak injury suffered back in 2018. Jones tried to go in 2019, but said his leg was still in pain, which another scan of his leg discovered a screw at the top of the rod inserted into his leg was impeding bone growth in his leg. Once that was taken care of with another surgery, Novotny said Jones has been unstoppable since two weeks after the surgery. “He’s been lifting, running and he’s probably put on about 30 pounds of muscle,” Novotny said. The summer of 2020 was set to be an important one for Jones with plenty of camp opportunities, but the coronavirus pandemic has forced a change. Novotny said Jones has received plenty of local Division I attention specifically from Colorado, Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force. Army, North Dakota State and South Dakota State have also had conversations with Jones, as well as a few Division II schools. Novotny said the D2 coaches are mostly in agreement though that Jones is more suited for D1. While the injury is notable, Novotny said most coaches just want to know for sure that Jones is good to go, which the FFC coach believes his star back is. Now they just hope to have a 2020 season to prove it on the field. “I think when you get football taken away from you for two games and a full season … It makes you a little bit more hungry, a little bit more smart in terms of bringing your body back,” Novotny said. “I’ve never been more confident that he’s ready to go when I physically watched him at track practice run that 4.34 40 with four handwatches on him. “When I saw that, I was like, ‘Yeah, he’s ready to go.’”