Jones’ debut a stunning success
Conversion to running back appears to work
Beau Baldwin figured all along he had something special in Taiwan Jones, a sophomore cornerback-turned-running back on Eastern Washington University’s football team.
But the Eagles’ second-year head coach said even he was caught a bit off-guard on Saturday afternoon when Jones, a 6-foot-1, 200-pounder from Antioch, Calif., took the first handoff of his college career on Eastern’s first play from scrimmage in 2009 and raced 87 yards for a touchdown.
“That guy can go any time from anywhere, that’s for sure,” Baldwin said of Jones, whose early scoring burst helped the Eagles to a season-opening 35-14 win over Western Oregon at Woodward Field. “We had an idea that might happen, but I didn’t necessarily think it was going to happen on (the first play) for 87, or whatever.”
Jones, who scored another touchdown on a 1-yard third-quarter run and finished with 122 yards on just 12 carries, took the ball on Eastern’s first play from scrimmage, found a small hole over left tackle and seemed to startle WOU’s secondary with his speed.
But after the game, he confessed to remembering little about the play.
“I was so jacked up, once I got the ball I just went,” said the former football and track star at Deer Valley High School. “I couldn’t tell you what I saw, I just went. It took me until the second quarter to calm down.”
Eastern’s senior quarterback Matt Nichols sensed Jones might be a little over the edge during pregame warm-ups.
“We were running plays and he was forgetting which way to go, which is something he hasn’t done all (fall) camp,” Nichols said. “He even made the comment – talking about the movie ‘Crank’ – that he felt like that guy who was on high speed all time. He couldn’t seem to decipher what was happening.”
But Jones eventually reined in his emotions and turned in the kind of electrifying effort his teammates expected.
“We talked about it all week, how Taiwan might just take that first play to the house,” Nichols said. “The guy’s got unbelievable speed and great vision – especially for someone playing his first college game at running back, and he’s going to be great for our offense.”