With the season opener less than two weeks away, UVa’s schemes, as well as its depth chart, are becoming more solidified. And over the first three weeks of camp, it would be hard to argue that any Cavalier raised their stock more than senior running back Perris Jones.
Jones, who came to UVa as a walk-on, has gone from an afterthought on the roster to a potential starter in the September 3 opener against Richmond. First-year head coach Tony Elliott has praised Jones on plenty of occasions and has even told the senior in front of the team that he has every chance to go out and take the job. Lauded for his consistency, Jones now looks to be part of the rotation at running back at a minimum and could be one of the players on the UVa roster to benefit most from the scheme adjustments that came along with the coaching change.
“I came here as a walk-on, so being in this position is really, really surreal,” Jones said recently. “It’s a dream come true so I try to maximize every opportunity that I get. The guys in the room, we push each other so whoever is out there, we support one another. If I’m the guy in the arena, then everyone is supporting me. If another guy is out there, we’re all supporting him. That’s helped a lot, as well.”
Despite limited opportunities in games from scrimmage thus far, Jones has been a humble servant to the program and has always believed in his abilities to eventually break out.
“It’s always been a dream to be the guy at this level,” he explained. “But I don’t come to practice with the mentality of ‘I’m the best.’ It’s just what can I do to be better for me to help the team. That’s the mindset that I go with. Coach put me out there with the first team, so it’s just do my job. Do it as best as I can, and do it as many times as I can consecutively. So that was kind of my thought process.”
While Jones’ ascent on the depth chart has become more widely discussed in recent days, his performance in the spring game certainly turned some heads. After halftime, he saw plenty of action, breaking off a 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second half. The 5-foot-8 back finished the game with 129 yards and the aforementioned score on nine carries. And while spring game performances don’t always translate to fall Saturdays, his big afternoon that day coupled with his camp performance seems to be meaningful.
“I’ve always known I was capable of doing things like that,” he said. “I wanted to come out and do the best I could. Hitting a home run, that was obviously nice, but the o-line did a great job and made it easy for me, so all I had to do was run.”
While consistency has been key, Jones points to his attention to detail and how that focus on the little things was a big part of his upbringing.
“My dad, he is a military guy so he kind of raised me that way,” he explained. “Tooth and nail, brushing the shoes, all of that. So I take that with me in every area of life and try to make sure I work on all the small things. With small things, great things are achieved.”
That attention to detail has helped Jones pick up Elliott and Des Kitchings’ scheme. While Jones clearly knew enough to make a big impact in the spring, he said the offense really began to click with him over the summer when he put in a lot of work with his teammates.
“I would probably say coming into fall camp,” he said. “I spent a lot of time with the QBs. We would just come in here on days and run through scripts. Random scripts from the spring and scripts that coaches sent us to study over the offseason. We just repped it and repped it and repped it. And so I would say going into fall camp I had a pretty good grasp and I was pretty comfortable with it, just because we had put in a lot of work.
“I’m just burying myself in the playbook,” Jones added. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to learn the plays; the more that you know, the better that you know it, the faster you can play. So that’s kind of what I’ve focused on, to be able to get out of the playbook and be able to just play, and have fun and get back to the basics of the game.”
One of the reasons that he looks to be a beneficiary of the new scheme is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. The new staff has more use for Jones’ skillset and, as of now, he is probably the best pass-catching back on the team.
“I love running routes,” he said after catching a pass out of the backfield on the first drive of Virginia’s scrimmage earlier this month. “My father was actually a receiver so I spent a lot of time learning the route tree and working on my hands. It was definitely nice to catch the ball out of the backfield a few times.”
Jones knows that he has a role in the offense, but he also knows that there’s plenty of other talent there, across the board.
“It’s definitely exciting,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in a lot of different positions that can make plays…I think we have a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things, which makes us pretty versatile.”
While Jones has a good shot to be the starter, or at least have a significant role, he acknowledges the talent around him in the running back room. When asked if he thinks there will be one lead back or a group effort this season, he was quick to suggest the latter is more likely.
“I think it’s a collective. We have a lot of talented guys in our room,” the senior said. “Mike Hollins, Cody Brown, they’re all very, very talented. Whatever is best for the week, I assume the coaches will do. But it’s a committee, definitely. Our group is definitely a talented group and we work really, really hard, so all of us deserve to be out there.”
Jones has put himself into a position for an unlikely starting role on this year’s team, and could be a big part of what the Wahoos will do offensively. And though he knows how far he’s come, he has kept his walk-on mentality, focusing on the details, and helping the team every day, however he can.
“Just keep coming to practice every day, doing the best that I can,” Jones said. “Learning the playbook, making sure I’m invested in the plays and the team, and doing whatever I can to help the team move forward.”
