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Show -- I THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL • SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1994 'BIRD SPORTS - in1 'Bird gridder Shawn Jones can really fly By MIKE FLAVIN JOURNAL SPORTS WRITER "The 30, the 20, the 10, touchdown Thunderbirds! " With four minutes and fifty-one seconds left in the third quarter of Saturday's against Western State, senior running back Shawn Jones broke the game wide open with an 81-yard touchdown run. Jones' run ignited the team which led to the Thunderbirds' first win of the ' 94 season. It may very well turn out that that's what SUV fans can expect this year. Jones, who wears number 24 on game days, is a physical education major and is a man of many talents. When he's not in his football cleats, he's in his running spikes as a m ember of the SUV track team-he runs the 100- and 200-metcr dash and is hoping to make the NCAA championships this year. T hat speed tra nslates to the gridiron as well as Jones run s the 40-ya rd dash with an explosive ti me of 4.3 seconds and often leaves pursuers looking at his back when he's carrying the ball. Jones describes his family as a very athletic one. His mother was a track star in college and one of his bro thers has gone from foo tball to amateur boxing. Daily football games during his youth at the park with his three older bro thers kept him out of trouble and gave him dreams of being the next Walter Senior 'Bird tailback Shawn fones Payton or Jim Brown. What started out as a way to stay out of trouble in his boyhood hometown of Paramount, Calif., turned into a dream. At age 13, Jones got into organized football, but, he said he didn't get good un til his sophomore year for the Bucs of Bellflower High School. After years of work in the weight room, playing field, a nd film room he was finally starting to flourish. In high school he earned All-California Interscholastic Federation honors, w hich attracted the recruiters and got his phone ringing. After some grade trouble Jones fo und himself at Cerritos College in Norwalk, Calif., where he spent his first couple of years. When he earned first team Mission Conference honor at Cerritos, his coaches were convinced his talent was so great it could someday land him in the National Football League. Jones transferred to Southern Utah and has proved his worth week in and week out. Last week al one Jones gained one 163 yards in offense along with two I touchdowns that led to a 46-21 T hunderbird win. Jazz music is one of 's m any hobbies. Writing songs and playing the keyboard led to him performing at school with the Jazz concert. T his led to the creation of the Belfire Jazz Ensemble a group of musicians who traveled the country to share their m usical talents. Like everything in Jones' life the best was yet to come. Winning the U.S.A. Jazz festival in Philadelphia landed Jones' face in major jazz magazines across the globe. The immense exposure from the festival led colleges to look farther than his incredible football and track talents to his new found s tardom in the Jazz industry. T hrough it all his football dreams have held tough. Fifteen NFL teams have already shown some kind of interest, but at a relatively small school it's hard to get the same exposure as does a player from Michigan or USC. Jones says he is hoping for eight more wins to end his final year of college eligibility. "T he team is improving every week," he says. He credits his performance on Saturday to good blocking and a much improved offensive line. If Jones keeps putting on athletic displays like Saturday's the N FL could be getting its next star and the 'Birds could be looking at a 9-2 season. |