Football's Lawrence Jones returns stronger & quicker in 2016

Lawrence Jones was trying to hone his skills during Morehead State's 2015 spring football drills.
 
With one outside zone play, though, everything changed in an instant for the running back. He twisted his right knee, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament.
 
"I knew it right away. I knew something was wrong," Jones said. "I was praying it wasn't my ACL, but it was pretty bad."
 
Able only to watch as the Eagles compiled a 7-4 record last year, Jones is back now. He credits his teammates for keeping his spirits up and fueling his emotion for a breakout year.
 
Jones has visions of going far beyond what he accomplished as a redshirt freshman in 2014. He scored four touchdowns that season, ranking second on the team with 428 rushing yards on 84 attempts, while grabbing eight passes for 81 yards.
 
"I definitely want to be a thousand-yard rusher," he said. "And I feel like I have the ability to do that, and I also feel like we have a great line. This is the best line we've had since I've been here, so that personal goal is attainable.
 
"But the bigger overall goal is not my yardage. It's getting this PFL (Pioneer Football League) ring. When I came here, to start with, we had a rough season (4-8). But now we've really come up and we have a big shot, and I want to do whatever I need to do. Whether it's catching the ball or blocking – whatever I can do to get that ring."
 
Spoken like a true leader, which is exactly what MSU coaches think they have in the 5-foot-8, 195-pounder from Ashland, Va.
 
"He's done a great job with bringing some of our young guys together as well, in helping them out, preparing," head coach Rob Tenyer said. "And it's made a big difference for us, that's for sure."
 
Tenyer noted that Jones, a biomedical science major, recently took his MCAT (medical college admission test) and plans to attend medical school.
 
Jones says he'd like a career in physical medicine and rehab, ideally in sports medicine.
 
"But in reality I just want to help people get back to functional health as far as whether it's strokes, hips, anything," Jones said. "Because, with this ACL, it was devastating. And to get me back to sports health is one thing, but other people just (need to get) back to everyday life so they can get to their jobs and make money for their family. That's something I really want to do."
 
Andre Crenshaw, the MSU running backs coach, is proud to have Jones under his wing.
 
"I think he's grown as a leader. In our group, he does all the right things as far as on the field and in the classroom," Crenshaw said. "He's really excelled in the classroom, which really helps me a lot as far as making him an example. Saying, 'hey, this guy can do it in the classroom and do it on the field.' So he's a great leader for my group in general."
 
Jones says he has had some good leaders to look up to throughout his life, starting with his family.
His uncle, Jock Jones, played at Virginia Tech before a four-year career in the National Football League.
 
Closer to home, Jones has had support from his brother Earl Ross, parents Stephone and Cheryl Jones, and 92-year-old grandmother Margie Williams. Stephone, who played for Virginia Military Institute, has had the biggest influence, breaking down film with his son since Little League days.
 
At Hanover High School, near Richmond, Va., Jones rushed for 3,514 yards and 57 touchdowns his final three years, helping the Hawks to a pair of regional championships.
 
He says he didn't decide on a college until late in the recruiting process.
 
"Coach T (Tenyer) contacted me and really sold me on what he was trying to do and what he was trying to lead the program to," Jones said. "He made me aware that it was going to be a building process. But I believed in what he was saying as far as we were going to get a PFL championship and do good things. And he hasn't proven me wrong. You know, I'm happy to be here."
 
Jones says the key for MSU to attain its goal of a league title is to play week by week, a game at a time. He's itching to let loose when the Eagles open the season Sept. 3 at No. 12 James Madison.
 
He's not the same player he was in 2014.
 
"Physically, I think he's a little thinner," Tenyer said. "I think he's a little faster. And I feel like his body is ready to play a full season."
 
That's due in large part to off-season conditioning and discipline. Jones says he weighed 208 going into the summer. Now, he's at 195.
 
"After my ACL, I had to cut a little bit of weight," he said. "So I'm definitely trying to be a little bit more shifty and take less direct hits and things like that. So I kind of changed my game a little bit."
 
Keys to shedding pounds, he says, included "brutal running" and cutting out fast-food restaurants. Toughest to deny himself, he says, were milk shakes. He says he hasn't had one since the start of summer.
 
In addition to physical improvement, Jones thinks he is a smarter football player than he was in 2014. Tough as it was to sit out a season, he made sure to watch and learn.
 
Crenshaw helped by "really teaching me how to be patient and read the holes," Jones said.
 
Jones says that, in addition to his own role, he studied what his linemen were assigned to do, looking at the game as more of a coach than a player.
 
Put all that together and you get a smarter, healthier player.
 
With PFL Offensive Player of the Year Austin Gahafer at quarterback, Jones must do more than run and catch.
 
"Coach Crenshaw taught us one of the key things to getting on the field is not only to run the ball, but it's also to block," Jones said. "And with a great quarterback like him, we have to keep him clean. He can't be taking shots, so I definitely have to do my part in blocking and protecting him. And I take pride in that."
 
Jones hopes that MSU fans will take pride in the Eagles, too.
 
"This is a big year for us and I feel like we're going to be able to do special things," he said. "So I want everybody just to come out and give as much support and have the best attendance in the PFL."