SC Quarterback Has Busy Visit Schedule
Batesburg Leesville (SC) quarterback Garrett Jones led the Panthers to a Class AA State
Championship win in 2005 and showed a maturity over the course of the season that has led
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to a ranking among top signal callers in the state. SCVarsity.com is not the only one that
has noticed his prowess, however, as interest in the way of college coaches has been
rising as well. SCVarsity.com spoke to Jones about his recent visits and his thoughts on
his future.
"It's been pretty busy," said Jones, who was headed out for some fishing
while on Spring Break. "I went to a combine up at Duke a couple of weeks ago and the
coaches there told me they were pretty interested, but had not evaluated the quarterbacks
yet."
Jones visited Valdosta State, a DII school in Valdosta, Georgia last week.
"Valdosta was great," said Jones. "I was really impressed with the way they
ran their practice. It was run with precision as far as time goes - no wasted time; they
went straight from one drill to the next. The head coach worked with the quarterbacks and
receivers at one point and even though he got on them pretty hard, he never used any
profanity and was more constructive with his comments than destructive. I was impressed
with that."
Things got interesting last week for Jones. He was invited by Western Carolina and
South Carolina to attend their Spring Game. He received an invitation from East Carolina
to visit also and to make it even more difficult, he got a text message from North
Carolina about attending their Spring Game.
"I really didn't know what to do," said Jones. "I figured that I had
visited South Carolina all of my life - I grew up here - so I decided to go to Western
Carolina on that Friday and then to East Carolina on Saturday. I'm going to make the North
Carolina visit at another time."
The Western Carolina visit was another good trip for Jones. He said he was most
impressed with their facilities, considering the size of their school.
"The facilities were outstanding," said Jones. "The coaches were all
very personal as far at talking to everyone. You never had to go up to them, they came
right up and introduced themselves. And the town - its in the mountains - was
beautiful."
He went to East Carolina on Saturday and the Pirates' staff and fans left a good
impression on him too.
"I got to sit and talk to Phil Petty," said Jones. He said they were very
interested in my and knew I was one of the state's best and wanted me to know they weren't
just saying that. Their fan support was great. It rained pretty hard on the game, but the
fans stayed for the whole thing."
"Last week, I went to South Carolina for a practice and had a good time there. I
got to see Coach Gillespie and he let me know that I was on their list to evaluate and
they liked my film."
Jones has no offers right now, but says that he felt that Valdosta State and Western
Carolina were most interested in what they saw in him.
"Valdosta's coach basically said that they knew some DI schools were looking at me
and if I got that opportunity, that I should go. But if it didn't work out, he wanted me
to know they were there."
When asked about his desire to play at a certain level, he responded maturely.
"I want to play DI," said Jones. "I mean, everyone should want that to
be their goal. But I'm not going to turn down playing for an education at a smaller school
if that doesn't work out. I'm not going to be one of those guys that's ego is too big to
take advantage of a blessing."
SCVarsity.com will keep you updated on the progress and recruiting of this outstanding
player.