Myrtle Beach High star wide receiver JJ Jones commits to ACC program
Myrtle Beach High senior receiver JJ Jones will not be joining his high school quarterback at South Carolina.
Jones, one of the state’s top 2021 prospects, announced on social media late Thursday night that he has verbally committed to North Carolina.
The Gamecocks, who lured former Seahawks quarterback Luke Doty to Columbia for his freshman season this fall, were among Jones’ announced final three, along with UNC and Georgia.
“The first thing for me was probably the family-like atmosphere in Chapel Hill,” Jones said. “That university right now is so electrifying. It’s a historic college. North Carolina just felt like home for me. It just felt like the place I needed to be, and the place that was most comfortable for me.”
UNC won five games combined in the final two seasons under coach Larry Fedora in 2017-18 and improved to 7-6 last season after coach Mack Brown’s return to the program.
According to 247Sports.com, UNC had a top-20 FBS recruiting class in 2020 and has the No. 4 class in 2021 based on verbal commitments, including Jones.
“UNC has struggled in the past but right now it’s a team that’s on the rise and will be a contender for the ACC championship these next couple years,” Jones said. “And this class they’ve got coming in 2021, I feel that class is a national championship-caliber team. I felt like it was the perfect fit for me.
“When you think of the North Carolina offense you think of an air raid type offense, and here at Myrtle Beach High School we run an air raid offense, so I feel the transition for me from high school to college will be easier for me playing in that offensive play style.”
Sam Howell, a consensus four-star quarterback recruit from Monroe, N.C., started as a true freshman last season and completed 61.4 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,641 yards, 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
“As a receiver you want to go somewhere where there’s a quarterback,” Jones said. “At North Carolina they have Sam Howell, who is a potential Heisman [Trophy] candidate, Jacolby Criswell, who was [2020] Arkansas’ Gatorade Player of the year, then you’ve got Drake May in my class who is potentially the best quarterback in the country.
“That quarterback room at North Carolina is stacked, and I just know I’m not going to have any problems with the quarterback and I’m just going to build chemistry with all of them, and just enjoy getting the ball in that kind of offense because the way they run the offense they try to take the top off the defense and really take deep shots.”
Jones is rated the No. 3 prospect in South Carolina by 247Sports. He transfered to Myrtle Beach from Socastee before his junior season and recorded 40 catches for 654 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2019. Doty was his starting QB until he was injured in the first round of the playoffs and missed the remainder of the playoff run.
“He’s always been recruiting me. He’s always going to be like a brother to me,” Jones said of Doty. “He texted me last night and he just said congrats and he’s always there for me, he told me to hit him up whenever I needed anything. It would have been great to play with Luke again just to have that chemistry already set in college. It was a decision I made for me, but me and Luke are still going to be the best of friends.”
Jones (6-foot-4, 190 pounds) said prior to his decision that he did his due diligence on his final choices, and he’s at peace with the decision. He notified the Tar Heels before posting his announcement.
“They were just extremely excited,” Jones said. “They had a feeling they were going to get me. It was kind of hard, on and off throughout this whole recruiting process. They were overjoyed in just the fact that this school is about to get a playmaker and hopefully be a cornerstone for this 2021 class says a lot.”
Prior to trimming his list to three, Jones announced a final five that also included Tennessee and Mississippi State.
“I was stuck between Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina,” Jones said. “All this past week I’ve just been taking phone calls, calling the head coach, FaceTiming the nutrition staff, FaceTiming a bunch of staff members of the schools just to get a better fit level since I can’t visit them right now. Just doing my research and keep in contact with those schools.”
And that includes conversations with South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp and receivers coach Joe Cox Wednesday and Thursday. Doty got a jump on his freshman season at USC by enrolling in classes in January.
“The conversation was good,” he said. “I talked to Coach Muschamp [Wednesday]. I talked to coach Cox [Thursday] morning. The conversation went pretty decent, nothing too big. I’m just ready to get this over with and start focusing on my season and get my team a ring.”
Before he suits up in Tar Heel blue, Jones has a senior season in Seahawks green that he hopes will be played through the coronavirus pandemic.
Myrtle Beach has played in the past two S.C. Class 4A state championship games – winning in 2018 and losing in 2019 – and on offense it will feature junior quarterback Ryan Burger, who started the final four playoff games after Doty was injured, heavily-recruited junior receiver Adam Randall and Jones.
“I truly believe this year we’ll win the state championship. Just because of the team we have this year, with Ryan Berger starting as a sophomore in the playoffs and leading us to the state championship [game], he’s developed a lot more since then,” Jones said. “Then you have another four-star wide receiver in Adam.”
_ The State contributor Phil Kornblut contributed to this article.
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 9:52 AM.
