Russellville senior quarterback Cody Jones received his first scholarship offer Monday night from Lyon College in Batesville.
Russellville Coach Jeff Holt said he doesn’t expect it will be the last one, either.
“The last few weeks people have become interested,” Holt said.
It’s all in the numbers.
Jones, 5-10, 205 pounds, has emerged as one of the state’s leading passers this fall and earned the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Feat of the Week after a near-flawless performance in Friday night’s 48-22 victory at Little Rock Parkview.
Jones completed 25 of 28 passes for 510 yards and 6 touchdowns. Holt, who has coached the Class 6A Cyclones since 1999, said Jones set a school record for touchdown passes, adding that Russellville officials were still checking Tuesday afternoon to determine if the yardage was also a school record.
“It was a phenomenal performance,” Holt said.
Jones was almost perfect in the 7A/6A-Central game played at Little Rock Fair’s War Eagle Stadium. His only incompletions, Holt said, were a spike to the stop the clock at the end of the first half and “two passes that should have been caught.”
Holt said Jones “very easily” could have finished 28 of 28.
“I just think he had a good handle on what to do,” Holt said. “He made good, quick decisions. It was just one of those games where everything went right.”
Jones, who needed only six games to surpass 2,000 passing yards this fall, threw touchdowns of 33, 50, 41, 72, 48 and 66 yards.
Holt said Jones’ 72-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Co-Chese Temple-Laws may have been his best throw of the game. Holt said Temple-Laws ran a skinny post pattern, and Jones lofted the pass approximately 60 yards in the air.
“It was a big one,” Holt said. “The ball was in the air so long. You just thought, ‘Wow.’ ”
Jones split time last fall with then-senior Mitch Mullen, but is now the leading passer in Class 6A. He has completed 168 of 240 for 2,215 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Jones is the son of Cyclones receivers coach Joey Jones and Cindy Jones, the school’s volleyball coach.
“He’s just been around sports all his life,” Holt said of Cody Jones. “He knows how to study. He’s a student of the game.”
Holt said Jones also excels in the classroom and is the first quarterback offered by Lyon since the NAIA school announced in June that it will begin playing football again in 2015. The Scots haven’t played since 1951.
“That’s pretty cool,” Holt said.
Feat of the week PLAYER Cody Jones SCHOOL Russellville HEIGHT/WEIGHT 5-10, 205 pounds CLASS Senior POSITION Quarterback OPPONENT Little Rock Parkview PASSING 25 of 28, 510 yards, 6 touchdowns
Sports, Pages 23 on 10/16/2013