After releasing Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys added a veteran presence to their running back group in Ronald Jones.

Jones has been in the league since 2018 and he brings a running style that can complement Tony Pollard. Here are 10 things to know about the Cowboys’ new running back:

1. The basics

Full name: Ronald Jones II

Position: RB

Birthday: Aug. 3, 1997

Height: 5-11

Weight: 208

2. Hometown guy

The next stop in Jones’ professional career should be pretty familiar. He is a McKinney North graduate and became one of the Dallas area’s top running back prospects as a high schooler. He was selected to the 2014 Prep Star All-American Dream Team as a senior and he closed out his time as a high schooler with 4,810 rushing yards and 73 scores on the ground.

Jones was listed as a four-star prospect by 247′s composite rankings, eventually committing to play his college football at to USC over schools like Oklahoma, Baylor and Notre Dame.

3. Whataburger withdrawals

Moving from Texas to California, or vice versa, can be a pretty challenging task. Jones experienced that firsthand as a freshman at USC.

Being over 1,400 miles away from home, it took Jones a while to adjust to Los Angeles living in 2015. The food situation was one that particularly stood out to Jones. In an interview with Reign of Troy, Jones explained why he missed a couple of fall practices during USC’s fall camp.

“I was just feeling a little dizzy and dazed for a couple of days, I don’t know what exactly was going on,” Jones said. “I guess I was just a little homesick with the food, like Whataburger and stuff like that.

“I just got to get me some Whataburger and some Texas BBQ up here.”

Now that he’s a member of the Cowboys, Jones should have easy access to Whataburger.

4. Two-time Super Bowl champ

Jones returns to the Dallas area with two Super Bowl wins under his belt.

His first title came in 2021 as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he split the workload with Leonard Fournette and gained 61 yards on the ground to help Tom Brady claim his seventh Super Bowl win. The second championship came last year as a backup for the Kansas City Chiefs. Jones was in uniform but did not appear in the Super Bowl win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

5. The ‘Texas Tesla’

During his time at USC, Jones earned a reputation for being an explosive runner after making his first cut. He was so explosive that he earned the nickname, “Texas Tesla.”

“A nightmare for defensive coordinators to prepare for,” Texas coach Tom Herman said of Jones in a 2017 interview with Bleacher Report’s Mirin Fader. “A special player who is right up there with the best running backs in the nation.”

Here’s a photo of the Texas Tesla celebrating with USC fans:

6. Wanted Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in Dallas

Before the Dallas Mavericks made their blockbuster trade for Kyrie Irving, Jones was one of the team’s fans clamoring for an infusion of star power to pair up with Luka Doncic.

When Irving and Kevin Durant requested trades from Brooklyn over the summer, Jones sent out recruitment tweets to the star-studded duo.

Don’t be too surprised if you see Jones cheering on the Mavs at some point.

7. Same birthday as Tom Brady

The list of famous birthdays on August 3 includes names like Evangeline Lilly, Martha Stewart and recently retired quarterback Tom Brady.

For a few years, Jones got to share a birthday with a legend in the same locker room. One of the eye-popping facts about the teammates’ connection was that they were separated by 20 years.

Brady and Jones were teammates for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

8. McKinney celebrated Ronald Jones II day

Jones’ connections to the Dallas area run deep and the mayor of McKinney wanted to make that known two years ago.

Citing Jones’ athletic accomplishments and acts of service through the RoJo Foundation, McKinney mayor George Fuller proclaimed June 26 as “Ronald Jones II Day” in his city.

The running celebrated the accomplishment on Twitter, saying everything was “bigger and better” in Texas.

9. He enjoys hikes

It didn’t take long for Jones to describe the emotion he felt about joining the Cowboys.

In an interview with dallascowboys.com’s Hailey Sutton, Jones said his return to D-FW was an opportunity to “chase another chip.” He was joined by his mother and uncle at the team’s facilities in Frisco on Tuesday. Jones also took some time to talk about his affinity for nature.

“I’m an environmentalist, I like to read books,” Jones said. “Go in nature, hunts and things like that.”

10. Making Bucs history

Jones owns the franchise record for the Buccaneers’ longest touchdown run, setting the mark in 2020 with a 98-yard score against the Panthers.

After getting through a big gap in the offensive line, Jones slipped past the last Carolina safety and used his burst to make it to the opposite end of the field untouched. Enjoy Jones’ record-setting scoring run:

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