Brotherly, family bonds shape Jones – Hoosier Sports Report
During a three-hour cruise down the streets of Memphis, LaRon Harris kept his hands on the wheel and his mind on his brothers future.
The journey Cam Jones was about to undertake at Indiana, LaRon had completed a decade earlier at Tennessee. In 2002, he was a highly touted recruit for the Vols, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound lineman with NFL potential. He lasted two seasons in Knoxville, detouring to Northwestern Oklahoma State and eventually the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent.
Every right and wrong turn, LaRon had faced the consequences. His hope was a late summer ride down memory lane, shortly before Cam departed for offseason workouts, would impart some wisdom. LaRon just kept driving and talking, veering from academics and relationships to faith and temptation.
We were just driving, and he told me the mistakes he made and the things he wishes he could have done different, Cam said. He was telling me, if I stay focused, the skys the limit for me.
The promise of Cam Jones has revealed itself in moments when running backs are flattened and quarterbacks run scared. Ranked third on the Hoosiers in tackles, the 6-foot-3, 224-pound sophomore is shaping into an aggressive, determined force for the IU defense.
But its a path Cam has been on for a long time.
There is a picture of LaRon cupping a 2-year-old Cam in his meaty left arm as the right reaches for a Tennessee state player of the year trophy. Cam is captured with his mouth wide open, looking up at his big brother, mid-question.
How do I get one of these?
LaRon pushed him.
When little brother wanted to enter a room, LaRon blocked the doorway with his massive frame. Cam had to claw his way past. When he found Cam and his friends playing football, LaRon asked for the ball. He chucked it down the street as far as he could.
Brotherly torture was fun for a competitive boy who watched football games in an orange Tennessee uniform and plastic white helmet. He ran down the street and brought the football back, every time.
Cam aimed to please. It wasnt until ninth grade he learned the value of hard hits. LaRon, who coached for every one of his brothers teams from fourth to 12th grade, recalls how Cams teammates howled after he laid out a ballcarrier. After that, he was like a missile.
Laser-guided in focus, hes a product of his influences. The rights hes been taught, he embraces and copies. The wrongs, he has tried to avoid.
Sitting in the passengers seat of LaRons car, all Cam had to do was listen.
Hes latched onto every word, LaRon said.
***
LaRon and Cam talk on a variety of subjects. It could be girls. Sometimes, Cams having trouble studying for a test, and LaRon will tell him to parody his favorite song with the answers.
On Aug. 31, he called with a more urgent concern. Cam had just sprained his ankle in the opener with Ball State. He was looking at as many as six weeks on the sideline.
Man, Im hurt, Cam told LaRon. I think its serious.
The battle of Cam versus the Ankle Injury is the stuff of legend now. He spent eight to 10 hours a day in IUs training room in the days that followed, aiming to reduce the swelling and regain flexibility.
LaRon played a part in that.
First, make sure its not something really, really serious, LaRon told Cam on the phone. If its not, you need to spend the night in the training room. You need to stay there.
LaRon knew he would because Cam has a different level of dedication. And by different, LaRon specifically means different than what he had.
Gifted with enormous size and athleticism he could land a backflip at 345 pounds LaRon didnt have the same passion for the work of football. He only watched film when the entire team was together. In the weight room, if there was a set of 10 reps, he did the 10. That was it.
LaRon planted seeds, hoping the hard parts would be more fun for Cam. When he was watching cartoons, LaRon told him that out there, somewhere, another little boy was working out. Cam would grab LaRon for pushups in front of the TV. In the middle of football games, Cam pulled LaRon outside and made him run whatever play they just watched.
LaRon chucked the ball. He blocked the doorway. And in the weight room, he mentally counted Cams reps. A funny thing would happen when Cam reached Rep 10.
10, 11, 12, 13
A do-everything mentality made Cam a do-it-all player for St. Benedict, leading in tackles, sacks, receptions, rushing yards, and touchdowns as a junior and senior.
Cam loved everything about football. So, naturally, he hated sitting out. When he busted his ankle, he bunkered himself in IUs training room, texting with his mother, Diane, who sent him lists of vegetables and fruit that reduce inflammation.
Mom, youre not a doctor, stop googling, he wrote back.
But just a few hours later, Cam followed up. Whatd you say I need to eat? Pineapples, oranges, carrots, and green beans, specifically.
Cam spent one game on the sideline, miserable, his foot in a boot. But that was it.
He returned for Ohio State on Sept. 14, limited but present. The next week versus UConn, Cam returned an interception for a touchdown. He also blew up a read-option play, blasting a Husky running back in the backfield.
The score: Cam Jones 1, Ankle Injury 0.
***
When it comes to that one-game absence, Herb Jones can relate to his son. He loved the game too much to sit out, as well.
Back in his day, Herb was a star high school running back in the Memphis area. He had an offer to play for Tennessee but came up one point short on his ACT score. The offer stood, as long as hed be willing to sit out his freshman year and get eligible.
That didnt appeal to Herb. He chose instead to play at a junior college, Northeast Mississippi. If only he knew it would be a path toward losing the game altogether.
In the summer following his freshman season, Herb went riding around a parking lot on his friends motorcycle. Only his friend failed to fully disclose an issue with the motorcycles breaks.
I was downshifting, Herb said. By the time I looked down and looked back up, a guy was backing out of a parking spot. We just met each other.
The crash tore the bumper off the car. It also tore flesh from Herbs leg, requiring 98 stitches to close the wounds. From then on, running hurt.
One season of college football was all Herb got. If LaRons cautionary tale wasnt enough, Cam heard his fathers warnings a few times, as well.
Think before you make your decisions, Herb said. I didnt think I could get hurt on this thing, or it could end my career, or end my life.
There were so many people in Cams life offering guidance. Herb, in particular, was a disciplinarian and critic.
Cam may have scored a touchdown, but Herb asked why he held the ball so loose. Cam obliterated one ballcarrier but Herb talked about the one time he whiffed on a tackle.
It set up a good cop, bad cop routine with mom.
I have a nicer sort of way of getting my point across OK, so what happened with so and so play? His dad, I looked over and you were on your butt. What happened on that play? Diane said.
But theres a logic behind it.
I wish I had someone who told me when I was playing, so I could have corrected my mistakes, Herb said. I never did want him or LaRon to make the mistakes I did.
Cam was steered toward the right things. Herb and Diane moved out of a rougher part of Memphis and into the community of Cordova on the citys eastern edge. They sent their son up the street to St. Benedict, where he focused on academics and community service. A good chunk of Cams 100 hours was spent with LaRon, a life insurance agent, visiting his older clients and helping them around the house.
Cam also had a special relationship with his grandmother, Merry Jean Norman.
Merry was a giver. For LaRon, shed sneakily slip him CDs of his favorite dirty comedians, such as Richard Pryor and Robin Williams, which hed surreptitiously listen to on his Walkman. Cam, the baby boy, spent hours by his grandmothers side, dancing, playing checkers, or painting angel figurines.
He was with her until the day she died in January of Cams sophomore year.
She just made me feel special, Cam said. Every single day, coming home after school, she was the first person I saw, the first person who asked me how my day was. I could do no wrong. Cam could do no wrong.
There is a reason it makes Diane uneasy to hear the word violent associated with Cams play on the field. It was especially hard when Cam knocked out Michigans Berkley Edwards on a kickoff last year, drawing a targeting penalty as well as some online vitriol for an alleged cheap shot.
There is an aggressive side to Cam, harnessed by his father and brother. But hes also quite tender, a people-pleaser and a family man.
At IU, there is a picture of Merry on Cams nightstand, so shes there when he wakes up. Cam has put a drawing of her in his car. He also keeps candles and flowers, items Merry enjoyed.
Before every football game at St. Benedict, LaRon and Cam had a lengthy embrace, invoking Merrys memory.
I love you, Im proud of you, work hard, your family is here for you. Nana is watching, LaRon would say. Go ball out and have fun.
It was a small enough gesture to go unnoticed, but when Cam returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown versus UConn, he tapped his right hand against his chest and then his facemask before pointing to the sky.
He was sending a kiss to Merry.
I know shes proud of me, she looks down on me, and shes happy for me, Cam said, smiling. I kissed her.
***
His entire life, Cam has listened to those around him. But there was one day when no one could give him the correct answer.
It was the early morning hours of signing day, Dec. 20, 2017. The plan was to wake up at 5 a.m. and sign his letter of intent. Cam walked into LaRons bedroom at 3:45.
He had no clue, LaRon said.
Up until that point, LaRon had helped Cam in every facet of his recruitment. He handpicked the plays on Cams highlight reel, placing them in a specific order to show off his do-it-all skillset. He accompanied Cam to prospect camps, needling him to walk up to Memphis head coach and knock his socks off with a question about academics.
It had all worked out. Memphis offered. Tennessee offered. IU found itself in a mix with Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Missouri and others.
Cam verbally pledged to the Hoosiers initially but pulled back on his commitment in May. Memphis, his hometown school, was making a hard push. The Tigers team bus stopped at the house. They flew a helicopter into one of his games.
He was basing his decision off the right things, LaRon said. It wasnt about the glamor and the glitz a lot of other schools were selling as their main attraction at Indiana, its Come and be part of a family. Love each other.
Memphis coach Mike Norvell was selling the same thing, just with some flair.
As far as Cams actual family, they already had a preference. Herb and Diane were, silently, rooting for IU; they didnt want him hanging around Memphis. LaRon liked what he saw from coach Tom Allen and the Hoosiers, as well.
But this was Cams decision. No one could tell him what to do.
Cameron, you have to man up and make your own decision, LaRon said. Go in your room, close your door, you pray, and you talk to whoever you need to. Whether its nana or anyone else talk to them and dont come out until you know what you want to do.
When Cam reemerged, he knew.
He signed his letter of intent for IU that morning, as scheduled.
The night before signing day, I really didnt know where I wanted to go, Cam said. I woke LaRon up, we talked about it and he was like Im there. Im there for you no matter what.
Thats one thing I love about him, diehard Tennessee fan, but hes happy Im here. Im happy Im here. My familys happy Im here.
Cams family is now a part of IUs. LaRon texts Coach Allen after games and he replies. Its a level of care he never really felt from his coaches in Knoxville.
The Hoosiers head man was effusive in his praise of Cam when he worked his way back from a six-week ankle injury in less than two, returning that pick-6 versus UConn.
Thats who he is, Allen said. Whatever hes doing, thats how hes going to attack it. Thats how he was raised. Thats the kind of young man we brought here.
And thats the young man LaRon and others sent to IU, priming him with that three-hour car ride down the streets of Memphis. The very same streets where Cam ran back and forth, retrieving the football for his big brother.
As a kid, I always thought it was fun and games, but what it was really teaching me was to keep going, keep trying, Cam said. No matter what, be competitive and do your best.
I kept going back and forth, back and forth and it kept pushing me.
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Brotherly, family bonds shape Jones - Hoosier Sports Report
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