Alizé Jones’ Football Ceiling Includes A Possible Boundary
The official job title for Alizé Jones is still listed as “tight end.” Nevertheless, this spring the rising sophomore displayed there is no “boundary” on what he can do for Notre Dame’s offense in 2016 and beyond.
As a freshman tight end last season, Jones caught 13 passes for 190 yards, while the rest of its five-man scholarship crew combined for seven receptions for 43 yards. Two of them are now elsewhere: Tyler Luatua (BYU) and Chase Hounshell (using his sixth season at Ohio State). Two others, senior Durham Smythe, who missed most of 2015 with knee and shoulder surgeries, and junior Nic Weishar, sidelined the final week of this spring with a high-ankle sprain, will still have prominent roles. Also added to the group this spring was 275-pound former defensive lineman Jacob Matuska, who primarily will take on the in-line blocking role that Lutaua and Hounshell had last season.
With so many niches and roles at tight end, head coach Brian Kelly and the staff decided that Jones’ talents as a pass catcher can’t be pigeonholed just at tight end, even though he was the USA Today first-team All-America pick in 2014 and was rated as the nation’s No. 2 tight end (and No. 70 overall player) by Rivals.com.
“He can’t be a guy who’s in a rotation as the third tight end on the field,” Kelly said. “That’s pretty clear.”
One solution has been to place him on occasion on the boundary side of the field (known as the W), where he has the shorter side of the hash marks to work with and could often face press coverage from cornerbacks. At a listed 6-4½ and 240 pounds — Jones said he’s more like 233 — his combination of size, speed and playmaking skills make sense there, or at other receiving spots on offense. The W position graduated Chris Brown, while senior Corey Robinson is pondering whether to continue his football career after missing spring drills with concussion issues that have been evaluated by a specialist.
“It brings back memories,” said Jones, a prized recruit from Las Vegas’ powerful Bishop Gorman program. “I really, really, really like playing in the boundary. … Hopefully I bring that trust to the coaches and they see that I take it seriously, I’m working at my craft and really like trying to understand the W position.”
Since 1979, the only two freshmen tight ends who had more productive campaigns at Notre Dame than Jones were first-round selection Derek Brown for the 1988 national champs (14 catches for 220 yards and three touchdowns) and second-round selection Kyle Rudolph in 2008 (29 catches for 340 yards and two scores). That’s saying a lot, considering that since then the Irish have had an All-Pro (Mark Bavaro), a couple of other first-rounders (Irv Smith and Tyler Eifert) and two other second-round picks (Anthony Fasano and John Carlson, who redshirted as freshmen).
Jones also gave a hint of his playmaking skills last season in back-to-back comeback wins against USC and Temple. He snared a wobbly 35-yard halfback pass from wideout Torii Hunter Jr. on the game-winning drive versus the Trojans, and grabbed a 45-yard toss from quarterback DeShone Kizer shortly before the game-winning TD in the closing minute to wide receiver Will Fuller.
“He has the best hands on the team,” Fuller said of Jones after the game.
Like an Eifert at Notre Dame in 2012 or Devin Funchess (about 6-4, 225) at Michigan from 2012-14, Jones is a tight end/receiver hybrid.
“They’re going to use me the best way possible to help us beat Texas,” Jones said of his role this season. “I’m going to leave that up to them, but I enjoy playing both positions and being a mismatch out there.”
Wisdom does not begin until you recognize how much you don’t know, and Jones walked down that path as a freshman. A 222-pound receiver in high school, Jones said he pressured himself to get up to about 243 pounds before last season because he thought that would get him physically ready for the college game.
“I did force that weight on myself,” he admitted. “Not to say that 243 is bad — just the way that I gained it was bad, because I did not feel fast. I didn’t feel like I had my athleticism. Coming in as a freshman, I just thought I needed to gain weight because that’s going to allow me to play and that’s going to impress the coaches. I gained it wrong, but [this winter] I worked on my strength and athleticism.”
Mentally, he also feels much more comfortable after having gone through a year of learning the offense.
“You can’t just come in here and think you’re just going to get by off your talent … and I thought that,” Jones said. “If you don’t know the offense, if you don’t know the defense, if you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re not working at your craft each and every day, then you will not perform.
“I tell my coaches this all the time, and my teammates: I want to be able to go into a game and feel like I’m just at practice — except now we just have a bunch of people [at the game]. Last year I was just so nervous, I didn’t really understand the offense that well and I was just out there playing. Now I’m in the film room, I’m with the quarterbacks, I’m with the tight ends, I’m with my coaches, trying to understand what is going on behind me and in front of me. I really feel comfortable with where I’m at right now.”
When he watches the tapes from practice and games last season, it’s sobering.
“Just seeing all the mistakes I made, it’s like … I didn’t take enough time and I don’t think I took it seriously last year,” Jones said. “I don’t think I was ready for it.”
As for this spring — “I really feel like I’m back in high school,” Jones said with a smile. “Even though the tight end position has been predicated on bigger guys, I want to still be fast, I want to be that fast guy, that athletic guy where I can play receiver if need be.”
There is no ceiling, nor “boundaries,” on what Jones can achieve during his collegiate career.