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Notre Dame Football Recruiting

Jones Enjoys Return To Campus

April 8, 2017
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After spending a couple nights in South Bend back in February, Micah Jones knew Notre Dame was where he wanted to be and less than a week later, the 2018 Illinois wide receiver announced his pledge to the Irish.

That didn’t stop Jones from continuing to seek more comfort with his future home, which is why he was back on campus for multiple days again last week.

“It was great,” Jones said of his Wednesday-to-Saturday stay. “I had a lot of fun. I got to meet a lot of other players on the team beyond the wide receivers. I got to meet everybody and it was a really good time.”

Jones was especially excited to keep building bonds with his future teammates and classmates.

“It was great,” the Warren Township High School standout said. “I talked to CJ (Holmes), the early enrollee.

“I talked with him about enrolling early and how that went for him. On top of that, I also got to talk to a lot of the students at the University. I got to sit on the classes and stuff like that, so I got to talk to a lot of the students and professors as well. That helped a lot.”

Jones sees the benefits of getting a head start.

“You can get in there early and you can lift and get bigger with the team,” he said. “On top of that, you can start to look at the playbook and start to learning the plays before spring ball and hopefully get in on spring ball and see how that goes.

“Hopefully you can get in there in the summer and take a spot, so that’s what I’m looking to do.”

Jones has everything lined up to give himself that opportunity a year from now.

“I have that all ironed out,” he explained. “I think I have to take a class in the summer and then I’ll be OK.”

Jones had the chance to watch the Irish practice on Wednesday and Friday and see weight-lifting sessions as well.

“It was a really up-tempo practice,” he said. “I liked the practices. It’s a lot different from last year. They’re flying around and being taught at the same time, which I like to see. It’s a real up-tempo practice.”

He pointed to the coaching staff for the ramped-up energy level in practice this year.

“It’s just all of the coaches put together really,” he said. “On top of that, there’s a little bit of (Matt) Balis in it from the strength and conditioning standpoint. They’re really running around and it doesn’t seem like they’re getting tired out there.

“You can attribute that to a lot of the different coaches. All of the different coaches are really in there. It probably has a lot to do with (offensive coordinator Chip) Long getting his offense in there and having it be high-tempo like that. He wants it like that. It’s all of the coaches put together.”

Look for Jones to be back in town for another multi-day stay later this month.

“I think I’ll be down for the spring game,” he said.

“I think I’m going to go down on Friday and stay the night and go to the spring game on Saturday. That’s what I’m looking forward to doing.

 
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