McComb football coach Malcolm Jones felt like a proud parent Wednesday morning.
Sure, he didn’t have any Division I signees for the first time in three years, but the seven who signed scholarships in McComb’s gym Wednesday were the most during his four-year tenure.
More importantly, it was the same group of players who helped build the program with Jones as freshmen when he took over at McComb in 2009.
“They were my first class when I got here, so it was kind of special to me,” Jones said. “We talked about that all season how they will be remembered as guys that put the program back on the map and they definitely are the guys that I will always reflect back on when we think about building this program.”
The group includes Quatavious Smith (Pearl River), Derrick Isaac (Pear River), Taron Divens (Pearl River), Kevonte Dillon (Coahoma), Damarius Brown (Coahoma), Roy Bibbs (Co-Lin) and Derrell Vanderson (Co-Lin).
With help from the rest of McComb’s team, the Tigers went 8-3 in 2012 and earned their second straight playoff berth.
Jones has now helped sign 18 players to scholarships during his four years, whether it be to junior colleges of four-year schools. Twelve of those have come within the past two years.
Two players — LaMarvin Ashley (Memphis) and Deonte Evans (Mississippi State) — signed with Division I schools.
His most talented group may be the 2013 class, although all seven signed with JUCO schools.
“Probably 5 or 6 of the seven that signed today, if they would have had everything in place with their grades and ACT scores, they would have easily signed D-1,” Jones said. “But sometimes we don’t take of the business we take care of in the classroom and fall a little short and we don’t get to sign those D-1 scholarships.”
Think of it as a second chance for some of those players, including Smith.
Smith had late interest from Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Lafayette, but grades held him back.
“He understands that this is a second chance ... to be re-recruited and get better,” Jones said.
Jones said he preaches the importance of grades and what the players need in terms of ACT scores and grades all the time, but some don’t listen until it’s too late.
“Sometimes things have to happen to people close to you in order to pay attention,” Jones said. “This may be God’s way of sending a message to the rest of these kids that are coming up through my program.”
