Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella
Christion Jones didn’t begin his football career as a punt returner.
Far from it, in fact.
“I started all over the place,” the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ special-teams star began Tuesday. “Centre, guard, tackle …”
Wait, what?
“I was bigger growing up,” continued Jones, who now stands 5-foot-11 and tips the scales at 190 pounds. “I didn’t lean out until probably the third or fourth grade.
“In my younger years, I experienced the trenches. Then the skills and the understanding of the game started to develop. That’s when the skills start to expand — the speed, the agility and the ability to do certain things.”
When that started happening, Jones moved from the offensive line to running back. Then he shifted to receiver. Then he lined up at defensive back. In reality, he played on both sides of the ball growing up.
But he must have done some returning in high school … right?
“I did, but how many great punters do you have in high school?” recalled the 24-year-old product of Birmingham, Ala. “Where I’m from, guys were punting the ball 20 yards.
“College was the first time I got to see the actual leg power of a punter, guys kicking the ball 50-plus yards and hanging the ball in the air for four seconds. That’s when I started considering the logistics of a punter.”
Seven years after arriving at the University of Alabama, Jones has blossomed into one of the CFL’s most dangerous returners. In the eight games he has played for Saskatchewan this season, he has returned 36 punts for 573 yards with two touchdowns.
His 15.9-yard average is the second-highest such number among players with more than 20 returns (the Calgary Stampeders’ Roy Finch leads at 16.8) and his two TDs tie him for second in the league with Calgary’s Tunde Adeleke and Martese Jackson of the Toronto Argonauts (Finch leads with three).
Jones’ two punt-return TDs tie him for second on the team’s single-season list behind Willis Jacox, who set the club record of three in 1991.
Jacox also holds the team record with 1,063 punt-return yards in 1991. Extrapolating Jones’ total over 18 games would give him 1,289 yards this season.
“I don’t want to get caught up in being surprised,” Jones said when asked if his success as a CFL rookie has caught him off guard. “I don’t want to even get caught up in living in the moment. I just want to take every day and learn and create more opportunities for myself.
“I hope that’s one thing that I’m doing: Creating value for this team.”
Let’s return to Jones’ past for a moment.
He didn’t play a lot as a freshman at Alabama, returning just three punts for 33 yards. That includes one return for 15 yards in the Crimson Tide’s 21-0 victory over the LSU Tigers in the BCS title game.
Based on his experiences in high school — when punt returns were few and far between — Jones described the BCS championship as “an eye-opener.” It was his first extended exposure to special-teams schemes, so he had some learning to do.
The following season, Alabama made Jones its primary returner and he didn’t disappoint.
“What went through my mind (when he was asked to handle the job) was, ‘I finally got what I wanted,’ ” said Jones, who returned 21 punts for 213 yards as a sophomore in 2012.
“I had to learn a lot of things and gain a lot of trust and respect from the team to even be considered the guy at that position. Once I did that, I had a lot of success in my junior year, but not so much my senior year.
“You’ve got to stay grounded as a returner because you can lose confidence easily.”
Jones returned 23 punts for 321 yards with two TDs as a junior and 19 punts for 152 yards with one major as a senior.
His pro career got off to a slow start — stints with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and with the Argos didn’t result in long-term employment — but the Roughriders gave him an opportunity July 17 when they signed him to the practice roster.
Since making his debut Aug. 5, and despite missing three games with a shoulder injury, Jones has been a standout in Saskatchewan.
He had a 97-yard punt return for a TD against the Ottawa Redblacks on Sept. 29, sparking the Roughriders’ rally from a 17-0 deficit in their 18-17 victory. He opened the scoring for Saskatchewan again Friday, taking a punt back 61 yards for a major in what ended up being a 30-7 victory over Calgary.
“We liked him a lot on his film, but he’s one of those guys who’s a gamer,” Roughriders special-teams co-ordinator Craig Dickenson said. “He tends to play better in games than he does in practice — and he practises well. When the lights come on, he seems to find another gear …
“He’s a good one, there’s no doubt about that.”
Dickenson said a good returner has to be fearless, tough and strong with good vision and the ability to catch the ball cleanly. Jones checks off all of those boxes.
That’s pretty impressive for a former centre who only started returning full-time in 2012.
“You have to buy into the scheme and the things that you practise throughout the week,” said Jones, who also handles Saskatchewan’s kickoff returns. “You have to stay rooted on that.
“It’s sort of like being a running back. You run the ball and you get one yard. The next time, you get two yards or three yards. Then you bust one. It’s all about being consistent and being resilient. Not every one is going to burst, but every time you get out there, you’ve got to think you’re going to bust it.”
