WVU's Playmaker
December 31, 2004 08:32 AM | General
December 31, 2004
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If West Virginia is going to upset Florida State in the 2005 Toyota Gator Bowl then its playmakers are going to have to make big plays on Saturday.
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| West Virginia's Pac-Man Jones has scored touchdowns by way of interception, kickoff return and punt return during his career.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
One of West Virginia’s biggest playmakers is 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior cornerback Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, who has scored touchdowns by way of interception, kickoff return and punt return during his career. Jones also had a long touchdown run called back at Connecticut earlier this year on offense as well.
Pac-Man admits he has spent time this week dreaming of making a big play to help his team on Saturday.
“I’ve had a couple of visions,” he says.
Jones is one of those rare athletes that can block everything else out and concentrate on the task at hand, particularly when he’s standing deep on punts waiting for a football while 11 other players are coming at him at full speed.
“You’re out there on an island all by yourself and anything can happen,” he said. “You put your trust in the other 10 guys on the field and if you trust them you can’t really think about them when the ball is coming down.”
Pac-Man says he has his own distinctive style for returning kicks and doesn’t emulate others in college or the pros.
“I pretty much don’t watch other people play unless I’m playing or I know someone,” he said. “I’m Pac and this is me. I watch film on who I’m playing but as far as just watching games … no.”
Jones is averaging 14.8 yards per punt return this year with a long return of 76 yards against East Carolina for a touchdown. He is also averaging 23.2 yards per kickoff return with a long of 53 yards. Last year at Boston College Jones returned a kick 87 yards for a score.
Yet, it is his ability as a shut-down corner that has attracted attention from NFL scouts despite having another year of eligibility. Pac-Man led the team during the regular season with 69 tackles and also contributed three interceptions, seven pass breakups and had two sacks to earn All-America honors by two different sources. Jones says he will worry about the pros after Saturday’s game against the Seminoles when he can sit down with Coach Rich Rodriguez and discuss his future.
“I probably won’t make that decision with Coach Rod until I come back to school and we get a chance to sit down and talk,” he said.
Jones also doesn’t view a good performance against Florida State necessarily as a deciding factor if he chooses to stay or leave.
“I really haven’t thought about it that way,” he said of gauging his draft status against the Seminoles. “I play for respect and that’s the main thing. If it’s there it’s there. Right now I’m living for today and I’m happy to be at West Virginia and this is what I’m doing.”
Jones is also happy that the team is healthy, well rested and has their legs for Saturday’s game.
“It’s just a lot happier scene. People want to be here,” Jones said. “It was not like a couple years back when some of them didn’t want to be at that bowl game. I feel real, real good about this one.
“You’re going to see a lot more hustling. The type of intensity we’ll have Saturday you probably haven’t seen all year. Florida State is THE program so we’re going to be ready and play hard.”
As one of the leaders of WVU’s sometimes-maligned special teams unit, Jones says the Mountaineers aren’t simply playing not to lose the game on special teams.
“We’re playing to win,” he said. “We had our ups and downs during the season but we stuck together as a team. Special teams might win this game for us. This would be a great deal for the games that we lost because of special teams. We’re in warm weather and we’ll have our legs and everyone is healthy.”
Jones admits he does get a little more excited playing a program like Florida State in a News Year’s Day bowl game than he would a regular season opponent.
“All my friends will be at this game because it’s so close to home,” he said. “They haven’t seen me play all season except for on TV so they can see what I can do in person. There are bragging rights because I have a couple of friends playing for them. One of the tackles that blocked for me in high school when I was a running back is playing there now (Courtney Adams).”
Jones is also not daunted by the fact that his team is facing one of college football’s legends in Florida State’s Bobby Bowden.
“He is always going to be one of the best coaches but he can’t get on the field so I really don’t pay that too much attention,” he said. “I respect the tradition they have at Florida State and they have one of the best programs in the nation but on Saturday it’s going to be just us guys on the field and I can’t wait.”
West Virginia faces 8-3 Florida State Saturday afternoon at Alltel Stadium. Game time is 12:35 and the game will be televised nationally on NBC. It is West Virginia’s second straight Gator Bowl appearance and fifth in school history.
