Jones A Late Addition to IU's '07 Class

Bloomington, Ind. – A late addition to the Hoosiers’ 2007 recruiting class could have a big impact.

Donnell Jones, a 5-10, 190-pound cornerback from St. Petersburg, Florida’s Lakewood H.S. is headed to Bloomington and will be with the Hoosiers this fall. Jones was in town for an official visit the first weekend of June and committed soon afterwards.

“Their business program is one of the top 10 in the country, and I really liked the atmosphere of the school,” Jones said.

Jones was a multi-dimensional, multi-positional player while leading Lakewood H.S. in the fall. He played running back, linebacker and cornerback on his prep team, and rushed for 800 yards and seven touchdowns on offense while totaling 54 tackles and three interceptions on defense.

While other programs recruited him as a running back and even as a linebacker, Indiana likes what he has to offer in the secondary, which was good news to Jones.

“They’ve talked about me having a chance to play right away, and that was really big because I want to play defense in college,” Jones said. “I’ll get an opportunity to do that there, so that’s big.”

There’s little doubt Jones has the tools to play in the secondary. He’s also a standout in track, where he’s run a best of :10.59 in the 100-meters this year and a :21.7 in the 200-meters. He combines that speed with excellent size as well.

“Coaches seem to like my speed, and some others say that I’m really fast for my weight,” Jones said.

Jones is a late commit because he just received a qualifying score in the ACT in April, and the Hoosiers moved quickly to land a player at a position of need for this year’s squad. He said he eventually picked IU over the junior college route as well as a couple of small Division I offers.