Sophomore wide receiver Jones is focused on game, not distractions

On game days, it’s all business for University of Toledo sophomore wide receiver Corey Jones.

On his off days? Well, it’s all business then, too.

A four-star recruit coming out of high school, Jones stepped onto campus last fall as Scout.com’s 41st ranked wide receiver recruit in the country.

But high expectations and pressure are familiar to the Pennsylvania native. According to Jones, he doesn’t feel the pressure or hear the hype, but instead files it all away into one category: distractions.

“I’m trying to avoid the distractions and really just worry about football,” Jones said. “Really, I just want to progress and make myself better and also contribute to the team.”

After racking up over 2,000 all-purpose yards during his junior season at Penn Hills High School, Jones received offers from a host of Power Five conference schools — the likes of Miami, West Virginia, Maryland, Kansas and Cincinnati included.

All-expense paid vacations to some of the nation’s top universities during your senior year of high school, trips where, in some circumstances, the programs’ highest paid employees are explaining to you just why you’re so special and offering you free rides through their programs — all of that could turn anyone’s head.

It’s not hard to see why so many talented athletes coming out of high school fall off the map after a year away from home. Too much of a good thing is one way of putting it — too much exposure at once.

More so than anything though, Jones seeks to become a leader on the football field, progress from a personal level and avoid the distractions and expectations that come with being a highly touted high school recruit and much hyped offensive weapon.

His patience, work ethic and progression as a football player have paid off with a starting spot as Toledo’s punt and kick returner.

“Any spot that you can win as a starter is an honor,” Jones said of the position.

The only thing Jones seems hungry for is football — Mid-American Conference Championship football, to be specific — and, although humble, Toledo’s sophomore receiver is confident in his ability to help the Rockets reach their end goals this season.

UT junior wide receiver Alonzo Russell said confidence and pride are attributes that Jones has improved a great deal on, and something Russell is trying to get the whole team to improve upon.

“You have to take pride in [your abilities],” Russell said. “At the end of the day, your name is on that route, your name is on that catch, good or bad, so you might as well take pride.”

Jones appreciates any advice received from Russell, who he now considers a member of his extended family.

“Everybody on the team, we look at each other as brothers,” Jones explained. “I look at [Russell] as an older brother with experience. Anything that I have trouble with I usually ask him.”

Jones isn’t having any trouble adjusting to the college game, even with all its speed bumps and hurdles. He caught his first collegiate touchdown pass during Toledo’s 2014 season opener against New Hampshire, finishing the game with 78 receiving yards and that score.

“[I] play fast and with a lot of emotion, that’s what I do,” Jones said. “I play with a lot of emotion so when I’m out there I’m giving 110 percent.”

For him, everything else is just a distraction.