BOOM
Former Duke forward Sean Stewart, a five-star recruit in the 2023 class, commits to Ohio State.
Few, if any, positions on a football team are less hyped than the three on the inside of an offensive line.
Matthew Jones, however, was a bit of a different case as he engendered plenty of excitement when he chose to go west. He came from Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, New York, choosing to attend Ohio State after graduating from the place that produced Curtis Samuel. He arrived on campus as a top-75 overall recruit and the country’s best center in the cycle. Recent history at his high school, along with his profile as a prospect, led Jones to become viewed by many who follow recruiting closely as the Buckeyes’ no-doubt-about-it future center.
However, he arrived on campus in 2018 and nothing happened for a while.
Silence.
Jones didn’t make any notable moves up the depth chart his first two years on campus. His name wasn’t brought up by coaches or teammates in interviews. Typically, offensive linemen – even those rated highly as recruits – take a longer time to develop than those at other positions, so it wasn’t completely abnormal for somebody of his ilk to take a couple of years to adjust. But he seemed to get lost in the shuffle for his first two seasons. Finally last spring, offensive line coach Greg Studrawa saw the first signs of growth that he had been awaiting.
“Matt Jones opened my eyes a little bit,” Studrawa said last April.
One year later, his eyes aren’t opened only a little bit anymore. They’re wide open.
Jones, a 6-foot-4, 316-pound fourth-year lineman, is at the forefront of a competition to start on the interior of the offensive line. He’s playing both guard and center, and he’s playing at a level the coaches have sought for a while.
“He is one of the most improved,” Studrawa said on Wednesday. “I would absolutely say that.”
Along with Paris Johnson and Harry Miller, Jones is one of the three frontrunners to start between returning offensive tackles Thayer Munford and Nicholas Petit-Frere. Luke Wypler and Josh Fryar are making runs for the openings, and Dawand Jones will too once he’s back in action. They appear to be behind the Johnson-Miller-Jones trio, however.
Petit-Frere mentioned that Jones has been “doing well” in spring camp, and Studrawa was overwhelmingly positive about him, too.
“With some guys, learning and getting themselves prepared is as much a mental thing as it is a physical thing. And Matt is a guy that's always had the physical tools,” Studrawa said. “He is so strong. He's quick. But eventually it gets to the point where, you know what, ‘I’m tired of not being a starter,’ and a little light goes off. It's, ‘I’m sick and tired of watching.’ And all of a sudden the demeanor and everything you do, the attention to detail and everything that you do, the toughness, carrying out a drill, that’s what Matt’s done. He's hit that point where, you know what, this is it. And he showed it that Michigan State game, and he showed it the next two games that he played.”
The game against the Spartans, to which Studrawa referred, was Jones’ first start in his time at Ohio State. Multiple starters on the offensive line were out with positive COVID-19 cases, so he stepped in and put together a performance that led him to be graded out as a champion.
The next game, he was back on the bench, only entering the Big Ten championship to participate on the field-goal unit. But once again, Studrawa called on him to start in the College Football Playoff, and he lined up to play 60-plus snaps in both the semifinal against Clemson and national championship versus Alabama.
Effectively, those three starts were both trials by fire and dress rehearsals for full-time starting duty in 2021. In the 205 offensive snaps last season, Jones proved he had figured out how to put himself on the right track.
“His work ethic, he's going to get better. I know that for sure. His first two years here, he ain't have that great of a career here at first, but his mental state has been a lot better,” Munford said this week. “And I'm proud of him for actually achieving his goals.”
Jones hasn’t achieved them all yet. He hasn’t been a full-time starter quite yet at the college level.
This fall, he can change that. This fall, Jones will have a chance to become the player both he and Ohio State’s coaches thought he would develop into when he signed his National Letter of Intent nearly four years ago.
“His turnaround has been amazing,” Studrawa said. “I would definitely say he's one of those (improved players), and he's carried it over to this spring. He's really doing well. He got sick and missed a day or two with a flu bug, but since then, the kid has been a different guy. I'm really excited about where he's going.”
