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The Best Combination Of Speed And Size

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By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 25, 2007

Updated: 12/24/2007 07:44 pm

Julio Jones, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound wide receiver from Foley, Ala., regularly beats double-coverage, sometimes triple-coverage.

He outruns defenders. He pulls away from would-be tacklers.

Getting past the inevitable comparisons? Sometimes, that's a much tougher task.

But make no mistake. Jones is his own man.

His singular skills - namely 68 receptions for 1,179 yards and 16 touchdowns - installed him as the top vote-getter on The Tampa Tribune's sixth annual Best of the South team, which was selected by college recruiting coordinators whose programs routinely work the Southern region.

That's no small distinction in a year filled with game-breaking, record-setting receivers throughout the South - and the nation.

No one else, though, seems to possess Jones' combination of size and speed. It has transformed him into Alabama's No. 1 recruiting priority, a prime target of Florida and Florida State, a legitimate possibility for Oklahoma or pass-happy Texas Tech and a Christmas wish-list fantasy for a dozen other schools hoping to just get his attention.

"It can get crazy," Jones said. "But I'm not going to let it be a big distraction. I just want to be me, Julio Jones."

That's the hard part.

He's the most recognizable face in Foley, a Southern Alabama burg of 7,590 residents, just off the Gulf Coast, practically equidistant between Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola. He has gladly given his time to a variety of charitable organizations, usually working with needy children, and there's always the threat of an autograph session breaking out.

"To the people around here, he's more than a high school football player," Foley coach Todd Watson said. "He's a celebrity. He's their pride and joy."

Then there's the football ability.

Mark Lasseter, the coach at rival Fairhope High, worked with Terrell Owens in high school. Lasseter said Jones is much further along than a young T.O.

Bobby Burton, editor-in-chief of Rivals.com, said Jones is the South's best receiving prospect in at least a decade, with even more potential than Calvin Johnson, a former Georgia Tech All-American who became the NFL draft's second overall selection last spring.

Burton said Jones reminds him of Kellen Winslow.

"The dad, not the son," Burton said. "Julio has a fluid style of play, is that natural of a receiver and yet he has surprising speed. Julio is definitely a receiver, not a tight end, but if you ever saw Kellen Winslow in his prime, I think you'd understand the comparison. He's just a real natural player."

Jamie Newberg, national recruiting analyst for Scout.com, said Jones is the best high school receiving prospect he has witnessed since Randy Moss.

"Julio may have more upside than Moss did," Newberg said. "He's just an athletic freak and he's arguably the best prospect - at any position - in America."

To review:

Terrell Owens.

Calvin Johnson.

Kellen Winslow.

Randy Moss.

Those names are dutifully recited for Devin Smith, Foley's quarterback.

"Man, I don't know about all that," said Smith, a senior slinger who has offers from West Alabama and Louisiana-Lafayette. "He's real humble. He doesn't get the big head.

"All I know is when I throw it out there, Julio goes and gets it. And he knows what to do with it. Great things tend to happen. He flat-out has it all - speed, hands, jumping ability. Especially jumping ability."

Jones has a 42-inch vertical leap. As Foley's track and field star, he already has individual state championships in the high jump (6-8 1/2 ), long jump (24-2) and triple jump (49-1).

He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.44.

He bench presses 355 pounds.

But here are the numbers that are most attractive for college coaches - 6-foot-4, 220 pounds.

Big receiver.

"That's the Holy Grail everybody is looking for," Burton said. "But I don't think Julio Jones fits a mold. God doesn't make enough like him to be considered a mold. How many big receivers with speed and excellent hands really exist? Two? Three? Maybe five at most? There's no mold."

And to think, just three years ago, he was a freshman running back and free safety for the Lions. That's when Watson, an assistant coach from powerful Hoover (Ala.) High, was hired at Foley. He installed a spread offense. He looked at Jones and formed an immediate impression.

Receiver.

Big receiver.

"There's a lot to talk about with Julio," Watson said. "You see the great hands, the speed, the athletic ability. But to me, what separates him is how he performs in the physical side of the game.

"He's a great blocker on the perimeter. He doesn't mind going across the middle. People see the flashiness, the highlights. But he does the dirty work. Coaches like that."

So do recruiting analysts.

"Several college coaches have told me Julio is the best receiver they have ever seen at this level," Newberg said. "Somebody will get themselves an impact freshman who is a franchise prospect with unreal upside.

"Despite being a marked man, he has been dominant. He's just a man among boys right now."

Hyperbole, obviously, can be omnipresent in the recruiting world. Some make it. Some don't come close. So when hearing Jones' name mentioned in the same breath with Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, it might be easy to tune it out and say, "Look, let's wait five years before making such a judgment."

But if the analysts are correct, imagine the scene in 2012, when coaches flock to watch the next prep receiver with size, speed and unmatched leaping ability. At first, they might struggle for perspective. Then the comparison should become clear.

Somebody will say it.

This player? How good is he?

Why, he's the next Julio Jones.

Reporter Joey Johnston can be

reached at (813) 259-7353

or jjohnston@tampatrib.com.

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