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By Brian Vornberg

Jason Jones used to think he was going to be a basketball player.  That has all become an afterthought now.  After earning 2006 Second Team All-MAC honors and 2007 First Team All-MAC honors as well as producing 50 tackles for loss to go with 14 sacks in his Eastern Michigan career Jones is now poised to be a probable day one pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Jones originally played tight end when he first came to Eastern Michigan (who was his only football scholarship offer, by the way) weighing in at just 219 pounds.  Four years later, Jones has gained over 50 pounds of pure muscle while still maintaining the incredible athleticism which he originally came to EMU with.  That athleticism and quick initial burst, or his “get off” as Jones likes to call it, is what has made him into one of the top defensive line prospects in this year’s class.  Much of his career was spent at the defensive tackle position, but he definitely projects as more of a defensive end in the pros due to his quickness off the line.

Throughout his career at Eastern Michigan, Jason Jones has steadily been improving and making people take notice.  Each year, he has improved on his tackles and finished this past season with a career-high 70 tackles to go with 19.5 TFL.  His 19.5 TFL were 7th best in the entire NCAA and were 1st in the MAC conference.  Jones has only been playing organized football for six years now and it is obvious that he still has a lot of upside.  Jones had arguably his best game against the Michigan Wolverines when he accounted for 6 tackles (3.5 TFL) and blocked an extra point attempt which was returned for a defensive PAT.

Jones’ main strengths are his ferocious competitive edge, strength, athleticism, and premier intangibles.  At the next level, he will have to improve his pass rushing technique, which he readily admits, because right now he relies mostly on his pure strength.  However, with his intelligence and work ethic Jones should have no problem getting even better and still has a lot of potential.  This guy is the definition of the word “sleeper”.  He’ll turn some heads in the coming months.

Just last month, Jones was selected for and participated in the Under Armour Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama along with 99 other of the top senior draft prospects in the country.  Jones has spent the off-season training outside of Nashville, Tennessee at the D1 Sports Training Center with fellow prospects Frank Okam, Steve Justice, Peyton Hillis, and Marcus Monk among others.  He also studied business management in college and has aspirations of doing something with business in the future.  So far at the NFL Combine the teams showing the most interest in Jones are the Seahawks, Lions, Dolphins, and Jets.  He has spoken with the coaching staffs of each.  It looks like he’ll certainly get the opportunity to put that business background to good use.

Where Jones might end up: Indianapolis Colts - 3rd Round