Previously: Last year’s profiles. S Damani Dent, S/Nk Zeke Berry, S/HSP Keon Sabb, CB Myles Pollard.

Germantown, TN – 5'11.5”, 175
[Patrick Barron]		247:      5'11/175                     3.87*	4*, 90, NR overall #22 ATH, #11 TN
		Rivals: 6'0/180                     3.98*	4*, 5.8, NR overall #21 S, #9 TN
		ESPN:   6'0/180                     3.87*	4*, 80, #141 SE #24 ATH, #11 TN
		On3:     5'11/175                     4.07*	4*, 91, #260 overall #27 CB, #8 TN
		Composite:                     3.96*	4*, 0.8958, #333 ovr #14 ATH, #10 TN
		Other Suitors	Tenn, Illinois, UF
		YMRMFSPA	Chidobe Awuzie
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post by me.
Notes	Twitter. Team made it to 7v7 Finals
Film:
Senior highlights (note: was playing all year with a high ankle sprain):

I hate a lot of things about the SEC, but one of them is they haven't had a good team short on cornerbacks since 1999 Alabama. While we're out there Moneyballing it with spider-shaped people and sanctifying any city that can send us three footballcats in a decade, it feels like every lowly South Carolina or Tennessee has some guy claiming 6'0" who's already 180 and not going to require an entire defensive overhaul when he steps on the field.

A quick check of this year's draft shows eight from the SEC taken before the second Big Ten cornerback (Tariq Castro-Fields), and two more SEC guys right after him. I don't know their names or stories, but if I click on a random one he's 6'0"/190, top-175, and in-state. And oh look he was ranked as a safety!

I bring this up because I struggled with a comp for Kody Jones, a safety-nickel-corner who's too squat to make the long-and-tall chart, too tall to be a Brandon Harrison clone, too muscular to qualify as one of the Detroit cats, too athletic to be Raymon Taylor, and not a top-100 guy from California. We're in uncharted territory here.

Michigan's explored the Southeast for leftovers, but when's the last time we went down to SEC country and plucked an average-sized, average-shaped average NFL cornerback over the local school's strong objection? Never?

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Anonymous SEC country 4-star is anonymous.

Every SEC cornerback may be the same but usually the recruiting industry puts in the requisite effort to fill their scouting quotas. Jones transferred up to Germantown, a Memphis-area competitor that produces enough 3-stars to be worth watching, and rode the 7v7 circuit, which was how his coach, James Williams, knew Linguist. Jones's team, Pro Process Academy, went to the national tournament, too.

And yet our scouting on him is scarce. Notably, Jones took a high ankle sprain a few weeks before the start of his senior year, but he rehabbed it and had a great season. Steve Wiltfong saw the junior tape, thought Jones could play cornerback or nickel, and is an elite athlete:

On film we see [him] making big plays at running back, in the return game and obviously in the secondary, a smooth, explosive prospect that can change direction, has that body control and after contact ability. He’s a physical football player.

That was the last we heard from the 24/7 scouts, however. Over a year later, Steve Lorenz was moved to write a piece reevaluating his own site's rating on Jones.

I sometimes think 90 is a spot where evaluators feel comfortable keeping a guy. I do not believe any of our national team saw Jones live and he did not play/participate in many camps throughout the three years.

Lorenz noted that early/undramatic commitments tend not to get looked at again. Because Jones missed the top-247 he didn't get a profile evaluation.

Rivals was the same story; they ranked him their #10 prospect in Tennessee, dispatched Austin Price for one of those creepy interviews where Price is like "So, about that sexy SEC, eh? Eh?," and never explained or moved the state ranking more than +/-3. Most of what we got from that site came from an article that The Wolverine recruiting reporter EJ Holland (now with On3) put together on his own a year later. Holland was also doing all the scouting in the interim:

Jones has great length and ball skills to go along with high level natural instincts. Jones brings versatility to the secondary and will be a candidate for multiple spots.

That leaves us with On3, who bumped Jones to a 91 (same scale) on their final ranking, and director of scouting and rankings Charles Power explained (via Tim Verghese):

Jones is a prospect Power has liked for some time but his body of work as a senior against top competition in Tennessee led to a rise up the rankings into the On300. The versatile defensive back will likely need some time in the weight room before being able to contribute for the Wolverines but the raw tools are promising.

In fairness to the sites, they were trying to evaluate a guy playing running back and safety who projects to cornerback and nickel in college. For that reason a lot of the scouting here is going to come from people in Jones's own camp, not regional/national evaluators. Get out the salt.

Athletic athlete who athletically athletes.

Those raw tools do seem to impress themselves upon those who deign to acquire a Kody Jones impression. Power:

“The thing that stands out with him is he’s a really versatile two-way athlete who makes plays as a receiver and DB,” Power said. “He has receiver ball skills at DB. He’s instinctive, can cover. If he plays safety, nickel or corner he has pure DB cover skills with receiver ball skills, so that kind of versatility, you can see him in multiple spots”

Pylon, which runs the national 7v7 tournament, puts out evaluations from founder Paul Gonnella. Gonnella loves all his athletes—his business is making these guys look good—but Gonnella called Jones "one of the best athletes in the entire class of 2022."

Kody is solid height, length and thickness. Can RUN. Elite burst, acceleration and speed. Great balance and body control. EXPLOSIVE with or without the ball in his hands. One of the more athletic kids I have seen in his class. Has soft hands. As he gets older, bigger and stronger he will continue to improve the already great God given skills he already has.

Before going off the deep end:

He can do it all.  He has all the physical attributes you  need and want to play RB, Slot, CB or Safety.  Not only can he play all those positions but he is really good at them. I am talking at an elite level. Here is what I am putting for these position specific skills. Charles Woodson!!

See what I mean? Salt!

I want to note, however, there's a marked difference between the tone Gonnella used for Jones above and that for, say, higher-ranked Notre Dame commit Benjamin Morrison.

Williams (the 7v7 coach) opened with "has exceptional ball skills, speed and quickness. He can play outside cornerback or nickel at the next level," to which Holland added his editorial:

In a secondary class that features two tall, long corners in Will Johnson and Myles Pollard, Jones is a speedy Swiss army knife that can line up in multiple spots and make plays. Like the aforementioned [Dillon] Tatum, Jones isn’t ballyhooed for his height or length but rather his instincts, ball skills and knack for making plays on the ball.

None of them say where he should go.

Cornerback, safety, nickelback or other?

That's sort of a theme with anyone who looked at Jones. Via Sam Webb, Florida was recruiting Jones as an Athlete for corner, safety, and nickel, and via Holland Tennessee and Illinois had the same idea.

A few schools, including Memphis, Arkansas, and Texas A&M (before going NIL crazy), were recruiting Jones as a running back. He grew up in the same town as Cowboys RB Tony Pollard, so his coach made the comparison. He'd certainly be a speed back if he chose RB, but keep in mind cornerbacks are often the fastest dudes on the field.

7v7 coach Williams was the only to seem to settle on a favorite spot:

“I love his intelligence, toughness and quickness as a player,” … “I think he transitions well. When he plays in the slot he has a unique ability to use his feet and hands at a high level and he has ball skills. I think he’s going to be a big help in the return game also.

Michigan had Jones at field cornerback in the spring game, and were saying that and nickel without committing to those two. This seems to have been the plan literally from the start:

Jones is listed as a safety, but Linguist has talked to him about playing more of a corner/nickel role. “He sees me fitting in well,” Jones said. “The first night he got the job, he called me. I think I’m the first person he offered. He said he saw a couple of plays of my film and liked my mindset. He loves my instincts and the way I think. He knew right away that I was his guy.”

Continuing the theme of Michigan's reporters carrying the scouting load, here's Lorenz on why Jones is right up there with Berry:

…I think is quietly one of the most important players the staff signed last week. He is the definition of versatility on both sides of the ball. Michigan is recruiting him as a defender but he looks effective on the offensive side of the ball as well. Watching him play running back, it's clear he's not the type of guy who plays running back because he's the best athlete on the field. He shows the nuances of the position and looks capable of playing the position at the college level. I've mentioned Zeke Berry being my favorite prospect in this class; I think Jones is a pretty similar player.

Magnus was a bit worried about Jones's ball skills, based on sophomore(!) film. He was saying Blake Countess then (as was I) but that was also before the growth spurt. The takes are all quite out of date.

Dog dog dawg.

Via the people who know Jones, those instincts apparently include chasing off the Amazon guy. Germantown HC Gene Robinson:

“We want guys that are always competing. Kody is a competitor. I call him a dog. He's gifted. He can do some special things on the field, but his heart and willingness to compete sets him apart."

Jones's father:

“He's super athletic, has ball skills, great feet, great hips… and he just a dog when he's on the field. He's a quiet kid. Doesn't say much. But, man, when he's on the field it's like something just clicks in him."

Gridiron Scouting, which covers the locals:

Jones is what we call in football terms a Dawg. He is shifty, yet physical play maker on O and a aggressive ball hawk on D. “I compare myself to Alvin Kamara on offense” he said. “He is agile, can run, finds a way to make a play. He can do it from the backfield or in the slot position. On defense, I am more of a Tyrann Mathieu type. He plays physical. He is not scared. He does a lot of talking and backs it up. I like the way he flies around to the football.”

Jones got that comp from his coach:

“I often compare his instincts to Tyrann Mathieu,” Robinson said. “That's the type of ball guy he is. He can intercept it, but he's trying to get that rock out at all costs — whether it's stripping it out or picking it off. He's just trying to get that rock. He has value because he can help you in all spots in the defensive backfield."

…and certainly speaks like he's already familiar with the Law of the Jungle:

I am a huge team player. I want to do whatever possible to win, whether that mean staying over at practice every day of the week for an hour to work on something, or hitting the weight room an extra time a day to get stronger. I want to be the best and most prepared player every time I step on the field.”

Gonnella called him a "very, very instinctive football player":

Production , production, production. He is tough. He is a competitor. I like Kody a lot and see a very high ceiling for him. No matter what side of the ball he plays on. Kody has a high ceiling.

And Holland opined "He is one of the most humble kids, yet confident. He is smart, he works hard and he is only going to get better.”

This translated to spring ball. Clinkscale after having Jones on campus a few weeks:

Kody is playing the nickel spot and corner. He is a very versatile player and is doing a good job not making the same mistakes over again. That’s what I like about Kody. He’s very competitive.

Jones seems to have the mindset for man-to-man:

“I would say on the field my strongest attribute is straight man-to-man coverage," Kody stated to the 247Sports [Mississippi State] website. "I love it, because it’s just you and me on an island, and I plan on winning that matchup every time,” Jones stated. “I think something else that is good about me as a player that many can’t see is that

Is he really six feet or is he one of those men who just tells people he is?

Listen, shrinking up to half an inch over the course of the day is a real thing, alright? Anyway the only interesting thing to come out of the Price interview was Jones said he grew from 5'8"/160 to 5'11.5"/175 as of August 2020. Give a 16-year-old two years and yeah, he's probably half an inch taller? I believe it because we saw him standing next to Myles Pollard, whom everyone agrees is "tall."

There's a little bit of perspective going on there, but I'd believe Jones can reach anything in my kitchen. Could he do that if he wasn't six feet?

Are we worried about the story?

On the surface, Jones's recruitment brushed a few alarm bells that. There are two categories:

Type 1. OH NO WE'RE GOING TO LOSE HIM:

• Committed very quickly after being offered.
• …to a position coach who is no longer here.
• And that was his only connection to Michigan.
• Multiple SEC schools with new coaches were pressing late.

Type 2. ON NO DID WE LOSE INTEREST?

1. Michigan was still recruiting multiple guys for his projected position.
2. 4-star that the local schools weren't all over.
3. Ranking didn't change all cycle.
4. Early commit who took a visit to Illinois late.

The first category is moot; under the surface Jones's recruitment was normal if you just move the commitment date back a year. Michigan spent the entire cycle re-recruiting a prospect the old staff probably never would have even attempted. Lucky for them, by that point Jones had been up to Michigan, connected with Will Johnson and the other top targets, and turned his parents into ra-ra Wolverines.

They did continue the pursuit of elite CB/nickel Domani Jackson, however, and to me it appeared Jones would get wobbly whenever our Jackson optimism flared up. However if Jones felt Jackson was ahead of him in the pecking order, my locals (unaffiliated with MSU or Michigan) who were following Dillon Tatum's recruitment were saying Michigan wasn't going to take him if it jeopardized Jones.

Illinois, of all places, made a furious and sustained attempt to pry Jones loose, but Florida jumped in over the summer, and the local Vols came in hard at the end. If Michigan hadn't kept recruiting Jones like he's at the top of their board, they probably would not have survived those swings. Which tells you how Michigan sees Jones.

Why Chidobe Awuzie? As I explained above, Jones sits outside of our cornerback boxes, save for some ATHs who were injured/didn't work out (Zia Combs, Darnell Hood, George Johnson, Doug Dutch), or worked out elsewhere (Greg Brooks, Earl Little Sr.). Jeremy LeSueur is the only other 4-star to escape from the South, but LeSueur was almost as huge as Marlin. All of the 4.5-stars are too lofty; you knew what those guys were going to be.

Ignoring the SEC my memory activates on Awuzie from Colorado, who played receiver, running back, and free safety in high school, and equal parts cornerback and nickel in college, where he was effective enough to get drafted in the 2nd round. He measured just under 6'0" (probably later in the day), just over 200 pounds, and 4.43 in the forty at the combine. I remember scouting that guy and, despite Lewis, Stribling, Clark, and freshman Long/Hill on the roster, being like "Why can't we have one of those?"

Guru Reliability: Low. All four sites fired and forgot, save perhaps On3.

Variance: High. He's got to learn cornerback from scratch after playing RB and safety in high school. Dudes with his attitude (see: Corum) tend to get to or close to their ceilings, however positional uncertainty muddles things since he came to be a nickel and at least for now Michigan needs him outside.

Ceiling: High. Jones might be a little size-limited as a nickel, and if his speed was up there with the future 1st round cornerbacks he'd have the 5-stars to match. Very good draftable field cornerback or good nickel.

General Excitement Level: High. Quietly one of the more important recruitments in a few years, considering what Michigan's cornerback situation's been like. If this is all we got for Linguist it's worth it.

Projection: Zeke Berry's presence and the state of the cornerback roster suggests Jones is more likely to stick outside. He's on that edge where they could probably get him a four-game redshirt this year as he learns the finer points of cornerbacking, but he's also probably going to be pushing to get on the special teams unit, and who knows how the secondary is going to shake out. He looked pretty good playing mostly off-coverage cornerback in the spring game. Here are the clips I got:

The camera missed it but Jones also got over the top on an option route to Clemons that the freshman receiver cut off underneath and the QB threw up top, drawing a grounding.

You can see Jones is going to need to gain some weight if he's falling off of the walk-ons, and he's got quite a bit to learn about cornerbacking, but he looks more natural out there than, say, Jalen Perry, who had a great spring game. I expect his classmates to be ready earlier, but for Jones to be starting or in the 3-man rotation by 2024, and maybe for a few years after that, likely inheriting the nickel job when it's required if Zeke Berry is needed at safety or departs early. If it wasn't for Berry, I'd give Jones a shot at emerging at nickel much sooner.

He's probably not going to win the Heisman, but I do think Jones will become that kind of right-sized, athletic corner for which Michigan's long overdue, whatever the Vols think.