Will Ronald Jones return to USC or forgo his senior year and enter the NFL Draft? Here is what his outlook could be.
Ronald Jones II really had a tremendous junior year at USC this past season. Throughout his career, he did nothing but increase his productivity for the Trojans. Coming into USC, he was known as the “Texas Tesla.” After his freshmen year in which he ran for 987 yards and 8 touchdowns, that nickname rang even truer. Throughout his career, he had nothing less than a 6-yard per carry average in any season.
This year, he had one of the best seasons in college football, running for 1,550 yards and 19 touchdowns. One of the things that will attract scouts will be his consistency throughout the year. Only four times was he held below 100 yards, and was even able to get over 200 yards this season. Even behind a patchwork offensive line, Jones was able to consistently put up some of the best statistics in all of football.
With the season that he just had for the Trojans, he has really opened the eyes of all the owners and general managers in the NFL. Coming into the season, Jones was not being looked at as much of a big-time running back. After the 2017 season, he is now in that top tier of running backs, along with the likes of Saquon Barkley from Penn State, Derrius Guice from LSU, and Bryce Love from Stanford. Even though he is being looked at as a top back, the question still remains — should he come out or return for another year at USC to possibly compete for a national title?
A running back to compare Jones to in this draft is fellow Pac-12 star, Bryce Love of Stanford. They both have that tremendous breakaway speed, and are both incredibly hard to bring down. You cannot just arm tackle them; you are going to have hit them and hit them hard. If he does come out, Jones would work best in a situation where he has a reliable offensive line He should be a late-second to early-third-round pick so he would not have to come in right away and be relied upon to contribute a lot.
Unlike his teammate, quarterback Sam Darnold, Jones should enter the draft this year, even though he has another year of eligibility remaining. Jones has taken quite a few hits at USC, and running backs tend to have a shorter lifespan in the NFL. They all will not be drafted any higher based on how they perform next year.