NFL Draft Perspective -- Reakwon Jones ‘Controls’ What He Can
4/9/2020 9:30:00 AM | Football
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Reakwon Jones has been rocked. You bet he has. Fairness sometimes seems like a myth, whether it's a Florida family home destroyed by a Category 5 hurricane, or NFL draft preparations altered by Covid-19.
Rocked, in this case, doesn't mean broken.
"It's another one of those things that's out of my control," Indiana's former linebacker says. "I've got to let things play out."
If he forgets that perspective, his mother, Tanya Mitchell, reminds him. She and his family survived Hurricane Michael, a 2018 storm that destroyed their home in Lynn Haven, Fla., and will overcome this pandemic.
"She's been with me through this whole process," Jones says. "She understands what's going on worldwide. She's been in my ear.
"We're not too stressed because we've been through adversity before. We've battled. We keep telling each other everything is going to work out."
It starts, he adds, by "Working and grinding."
The 6-2, 233-pound Jones spent the last five years living that approach. A former all-state high school player, he redshirted his first season at IU (winning scout team player-of-the-week honors six times), then spent the next two years as a reserve before breaking into the starting lineup.
Jones ended his Indiana career with his best season -- 55 tackles (10 more than he had in his first three years combined to rank second on the team), two pass breakups, one sack and one fumble recovery (returned for 17 yards for a touchdown against Rutgers) to receive honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors. His leadership earned him a team co-captain role.
Besides playing in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl for the Hoosiers, Jones got added exposure by playing in January's Tropical Bowl in Florida. He had one tackle while playing for the winning National team.
"I got to meet a lot of cool guys from different schools. I think they said it was 28 to 30 (NFL) scouts in attendance. We saw the scouts at practice, at our hotels. We had meetings with them and we were able to talk with them and get to know them.
"I was blessed to have the opportunity to showcase my character and what I can do on the field. Also, to be around other great players, it pushes you to be better and continue to work harder."
Opportunity included a meeting with the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.
"They talked about the season and Indiana in general," Jones says. "They said they liked how I looked, how I played, the effort I played with, my footwork.
"Some scouts talked to my agent. I got good feedback that they were interested and wanted to stay in contact."
Jones followed that up by going to Colorado to train, but flew back to Florida in mid-March when the pandemic hit.
"That's when things started to get serious," he says.
"We are on lockdown (in Florida), but no curfew. It's hard trying to find places to work out that aren't closed, trying to find fields that aren't closed. I'm trying to stay ready and get better even through this process."
Doing that without strength training equipment adds to the challenge.
"It's a big improvise for me," Jones says. "I don't have any weights. I do have a few bands to do what I can do. Mostly, it's push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, stretching and bunch of running and field work."
Jones says he's working out with former IU defensive back Johnathan Crawford.
"We do drills. We throw in a few speed workouts to continue to get faster and keep the spirits up. We work on our hips, coming in and out of breaks, transitioning, working on those little movements and details so when the opportunity does come and I'm in camp, I can stand out."
Jones had hoped to impress scouts during IU's Pro Day in late March, but that was canceled.
"It's hard because I don't get that opportunity to be in that environment, talk with (scouts and coaches), show them who I am, get to know them better and take coaching and perform drills and talk about getting better."
As far as communicating with scouts or coaches heading into the draft later this month, Jones says, "Whenever a scout texts me or reaches out to me, we converse for a little while, and I let them know I'm continuing to work."
Perspective, you see, makes all the difference.
"Nothing on my part has changed. All I can do is work and control what I can control."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Reakwon Jones has been rocked. You bet he has. Fairness sometimes seems like a myth, whether it's a Florida family home destroyed by a Category 5 hurricane, or NFL draft preparations altered by Covid-19.
Rocked, in this case, doesn't mean broken.
"It's another one of those things that's out of my control," Indiana's former linebacker says. "I've got to let things play out."
If he forgets that perspective, his mother, Tanya Mitchell, reminds him. She and his family survived Hurricane Michael, a 2018 storm that destroyed their home in Lynn Haven, Fla., and will overcome this pandemic.
"She's been with me through this whole process," Jones says. "She understands what's going on worldwide. She's been in my ear.
"We're not too stressed because we've been through adversity before. We've battled. We keep telling each other everything is going to work out."
It starts, he adds, by "Working and grinding."
The 6-2, 233-pound Jones spent the last five years living that approach. A former all-state high school player, he redshirted his first season at IU (winning scout team player-of-the-week honors six times), then spent the next two years as a reserve before breaking into the starting lineup.
Jones ended his Indiana career with his best season -- 55 tackles (10 more than he had in his first three years combined to rank second on the team), two pass breakups, one sack and one fumble recovery (returned for 17 yards for a touchdown against Rutgers) to receive honorable-mention All-Big Ten honors. His leadership earned him a team co-captain role.
Besides playing in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl for the Hoosiers, Jones got added exposure by playing in January's Tropical Bowl in Florida. He had one tackle while playing for the winning National team.
"I got to meet a lot of cool guys from different schools. I think they said it was 28 to 30 (NFL) scouts in attendance. We saw the scouts at practice, at our hotels. We had meetings with them and we were able to talk with them and get to know them.
"I was blessed to have the opportunity to showcase my character and what I can do on the field. Also, to be around other great players, it pushes you to be better and continue to work harder."
Opportunity included a meeting with the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.
"They talked about the season and Indiana in general," Jones says. "They said they liked how I looked, how I played, the effort I played with, my footwork.
"Some scouts talked to my agent. I got good feedback that they were interested and wanted to stay in contact."
Jones followed that up by going to Colorado to train, but flew back to Florida in mid-March when the pandemic hit.
"That's when things started to get serious," he says.
"We are on lockdown (in Florida), but no curfew. It's hard trying to find places to work out that aren't closed, trying to find fields that aren't closed. I'm trying to stay ready and get better even through this process."
Doing that without strength training equipment adds to the challenge.
"It's a big improvise for me," Jones says. "I don't have any weights. I do have a few bands to do what I can do. Mostly, it's push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, stretching and bunch of running and field work."
Jones says he's working out with former IU defensive back Johnathan Crawford.
"We do drills. We throw in a few speed workouts to continue to get faster and keep the spirits up. We work on our hips, coming in and out of breaks, transitioning, working on those little movements and details so when the opportunity does come and I'm in camp, I can stand out."
Jones had hoped to impress scouts during IU's Pro Day in late March, but that was canceled.
"It's hard because I don't get that opportunity to be in that environment, talk with (scouts and coaches), show them who I am, get to know them better and take coaching and perform drills and talk about getting better."
As far as communicating with scouts or coaches heading into the draft later this month, Jones says, "Whenever a scout texts me or reaches out to me, we converse for a little while, and I let them know I'm continuing to work."
Perspective, you see, makes all the difference.
"Nothing on my part has changed. All I can do is work and control what I can control."
Players Mentioned
LB
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