Personal Background

• Attended McKinney North High School, McKinney, Texas
• Father was an Army Seargant
• Helped take care of his siblings, which included three foster brothers/sisters after parents separated
• Father had health issues, while awaiting a transplant suffered a fatal heart attack

Athletic Background

• High school
  • 2014 Prep Star All-American Dream Team and USA Today All-Texas
  • Rushed for 2,009 yards (8.4 avg) with 28 TDs as a senior in 2014
  • Posted bests of 10.37 seconds in the 100m and 21.98 in the 200m, won district titles in 2015
• College
  • 2017 Doak Walker Award
  • 2016 Campus Insiders Sophomore All-American honorable mention
  • 2016 All Pac-12 second team
  • Phil Steele All Pac-12 second team

Injury history

• 2017
  • Thigh injury – missed one game

Production

• 40 FBS games
  • Pro Football Focus 2017 statistics
    • Rushing – 591 attempts, 3,691 yards, 6.1 YPC, 2,175 yards after contact, 126 missed tackles, 39 touchdowns, 2 fumbles
    • Receiving – 32 receptions, 302 yards, 3 touchdowns
    • Rankings
      • Elusive ranking: 12th
      • Breakaway percentage: 13th
      • Yards per route: 37th
      • Drop rate: 40th
      • Pass block efficiency: 56th
      • Percentage not tackled on first contact: 38th

Film Reviewed

• Arizona
• Arizona State
• Colorado
• Stanford
• Texas
• UCLA

Measurables

• Year: Senior
• Height: 5’11”
• Weight: 205 pounds
• Official 40 time: tweaked hamstring, didn’t run

Strengths

• Decent sized athlete with thick thighs and chiseled calves
• Smooth glider with tremendous burst and speed
• Possesses above average balance
• Prototypical zone runner, pre-snap and post-snap reads are second nature
• Hips quickly lead on lateral cuts, then feet follow, making him very difficult to wrap up
• Able to stack one-cut ability with quick shoulder shakes against the grain
• Twitched up calves allow him to slice and dice through small gaps or entry points
• Displays effective burst and feet, which cause a defender to become flat footed in the hole, then he accelerates outside
• Decisive runner on 3rd- and 4th-and-1, puts his shoulders down and gets what he needs to
• Presses the line of scrimmage very well, reads and sets up blocks on zone runs; quite possibly the best in class
• Plays with wide eyes/peripheral vision and doesn’t cue defenders on escape route
• Sharp crisp cuts, gets skinny after burst away from defenders prior to reaching the line of scrimmage
• Ball security
  • Covers the ball with two hands and exhibits good lean when slipping through the line of scrimmage
• Adept blocker when motioned out and asked to block for teammates on WR screens
• Used sparingly in the passing game, but did show some ability to run routes, used eyes to sell pivot route nicely
• Reads leverage of defenders as he is running the route
  • Sets up the blocks afterwards and has the speed to take it the distance

 

Weaknesses

• Not quite an every down frame for a running back at the next level
• At times shows impatience on gap runs, will take the backside gap rather than staying on track play side
• Can get stuck reading first level too long on gap/power runs, causing him to get hung up and boxed in
• Vision better on horizontal outside zone and pin-and-pull runs where the defense is moving laterally
• Hyper focused on setting up his first move when targeted in the passing game and can tend to let the ball get into his body
• Gets caught thinking whether to block or release on check release assignments
• Passive run blocker, waits on blitzing edge rushers and corners. Will give up inside lane rather than forcing the player to take the longer route

Overall

Jones’s running style is so smooth that he almost looks slow, at least until he plants and gets north/south. He has a very good sense of timing on outside zone runs, presses the line of scrimmage the best in this class, and consistently makes the proper bounce, bang, or bend reads. His crisp cuts are often too much for defenders to handle moving full speed laterally and he is able to break a lot of arm tackles because of it. If he sees daylight, he will chase it all the way to the end zone with his speed.

Given his size and tendency to excel in outside zone run schemes, it is unknown whether he can hold up to the rigors of cutting it back against the grain and getting up inside at the next level. These kinds of run schemes end up ‘hitting’ up between the tackles, and he will take a lot of hits on Sundays. There are still questions about whether he can consistently handle running routes and/or catching as well. Every scout was looking forward to seeing his receiving abilities on display at the combine, but his injury prevented any type of evaluation. His lack of overall physicality without the ball in his hand does worry me a bit, especially as a pass blocker. I would like to see more aggression from him. If he loses the battle, fine, but I do not want to see him being passive when failing.

Overall, I have Jones graded at 4.77, which is a second round pick. He will be money in a zone-heavy scheme as part of a running back rotation. At this point he is not an every-down back, in my opinion. But he can produce some VERY GOOD numbers if utilized properly.

 

Film

RB Ronald Jones – USC