Hard Hitting Federal Way LB Rod Jones Jr.

A team loaded with big-time prospects this year is Federal Way and one of the leaders on their defense this past season was LB Rod Jones Jr. This offseason he’s been hard at work while also competing against some of the top talent in the state.

“I’ve been hitting the Barton Camps a couple of times this winter and it’s been great from a competition standpoint,” Jones told NEI recently. “I love seeing all the great players out here from different schools from around the state. We all come together and work hard, but we have a lot of fun competing against each other and making each other better.

“I really want o work on my speed and get stronger. I mean, you can always get faster and stronger and that’s what I’m working on now.”

At 6’2″, 235 pounds and running a 4.6 forty time, Jones has the physical attributes to attract schools from all over and when you throw in his productivity — 50 tackles and four sacks on defense, 500 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns on offense, earning All-SPSL 4A honors on both sides of the ball — he’s already a prospect on several radars.

“Washington and Missouri are the schools recruiting me the most right now,” Jones said. “I’m hearing from a lot of schools though letters and stuff like that, and our coaches have had a lot of schools come through and probably will in the spring too.”

As far as camps are concerned, Jones said he plans to hit several more Barton events, but also has started to think about putting other camps on his itinerary.

“I definitely want to hit Washington’s camp and probably a Nike Camp, most likely the one in San Francisco,” Jones said. “Other than that, we’ll have to see which ones work out. I have to start mapping that all out, but I still have a little time before I need to worry about it too much.”

We will have more on Jones in the near future as he continues through the recruiting process.