FAYETTEVILLE — Shaquille Jones has come a long way from the child who would rather drink from the water fountain than play sports.
Ujima Stewart, Jones’ mother, said she tried to get her son involved in sports at the local Boys and Girls Club, but he would run off the court headed toward the water fountain instead of playing. Many of Fort Smith Northside’s opponents wish Jones would have stayed on the sideline.
Jones eventually tried his hand at sports and blossomed years later into the most prolific receiver in Arkansas high school history. Jones will play for the West team in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association football All-Star game, which begins at 7 tonight at Reynolds Razorbacks Stadium.
“Shaquille didn’t even like sports,” Stewart said. “I don’t think Shaquille ever realized his potential because I think he’s going to be great.”
Jones caught a state-record 295 passes for 3,566 yards and26 touchdowns in his 32-game career. He gave credit for his development to Northside assistant Billy Joe Releford, who was a legendary high school player in Fort Smith.
Releford said he saw Jones make a leaping touchdown catch in a 7-on-7 game the summer before his freshman year. Releford pulled Jones aside afterward.
“He said, ‘You need to take football serious. You could be something special,’ ” Jones said. “I definitely believed him. It’s Billy Joe Releford. When he said something, you listened to him.”
Jones, 6-1, 185 pounds, was an immediate success at Northside, catching 78 passes for 929 yards and 6 touchdowns to earn Democrat-Gazette Northwest Arkansas Sophomore of the Year honors. He caught another 94passes as a junior and a state best 123 for 1,538 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete, a game-changer,” said Fayetteville Coach Daryl Patton, the West head coach. “You had to have four sets of eyes on him at all times. When things broke down, you could always just throw it up and let his God-given ability take over because he was a freak.”
Jones signed with Pittsburg (Kan.) State but has one more shot at catching passes as a high schooler. He is far from boastful, but Jones said he is determined to catch at least five passes tonight to give him 300 for his career, even though Patton jokingly wondered if those catches would count.
Patton used a Spread offense at Fayetteville, so chances are pretty good Jones will have plenty of passes thrown his way. Jones said he was glad the West team wasn’t running the Wishbone tonight.
“It’s definitely a relief knowing they’re going to air it out,” Jones said. “I knew [Patton] was from Fayetteville and my initial thought was, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re going to be throwing the ball.’ ”
Arkansas high school football has become pass-happy in recent years, so it’s hard to tell how long Jones’ career record will last. Greenwood’s Josh Bell held the previous record of 259 catches in 40 games for 12 years.
“It’s one of those things, as a kid, the record doesn’t have value to it,” Jones said. “As a kid, you don’t understand the magnitude of it. As you get older, it means more.
“It’s definitely a story I’ll be able to tell my kids and my grand kids.”Jones glance NAME Shaquille Jones HIGH SCHOOL Fort Smith Northside POSITION Receiver ALL-STAR TEAM West HT-WT 6-1, 185 pounds NOTEWORTHY Set state career receiving record with 295 catches, breaking old mark of 259 set by Greenwood’s Josh Bell in 1998-2000. ... Caught 123 passes for 1,538 yards and 11 touchdowns as a senior. ... Finished career with 295 catches for 3,566 yards and 26 touchdowns in 32 games. ... Will play at Pittsburg (Kan.) State next year.
Sports, Pages 26 on 06/21/2012