Irish 'volunteer' freshman to start at tailback

After rushing for 146 yards last week against Navy, with flashes of speed Notre Dame hasn't had in years, Jones will be the featured back as the Irish take on No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday.

"He's an impact football player that's going to get more and more opportunities to carry the load for us," coach Bob Davie said. "You don't have to be a guy who's been around football a long, long time to see when he's in the game, good things happen."

The 24th-ranked Irish (5-3) are going to need Jones when they travel to Tennessee (6-1).

The Vols' defense ranks sixth in the country against the run, allowing just 74 yards a game, and Tennessee hasn't allowed a rushing touchdown all season, the only Division I or I-AA team that can make that claim.

"If you're going to have a breakout game, this is the place to do it," said Jones, who is no stranger to Tennessee.

The Vols coaching staff heavily recruited the Big Stone Gap, Va., native, who played high school football just miles from the Tennessee state line and attended several Tennessee football camps.

Even though his father once worked as an academic counselor for the university, Jones dropped Tennessee from consideration after he heard rumors from other players during unofficial visits that he would likely be switched to defensive back.

"I know everybody wanted me to go to Tennessee, so they'll be there watching me. I just want to have a good game," Jones said. "I just like to play. That's what I do best. I just leave the talking to everybody else and try to do my thing."

Jones is slowly being worked into the tailback position, an attempt by the coaching staff to ease him into the system and avoid offending the three upperclassmen vying for playing time with him.

Being patient hasn't been hard with older brother Thomas, a senior at Virginia and the nation's No. 1 rusher with 159 yards per game, giving him constant support.

"Just be patient and don't give up," Julius Jones said his older brother told him. "Just every time you get an opportunity, you've got to make something happen."

So far, he's listened well. He ran for a 13-yard touchdown against Arizona State, had a 49-yard reception against Southern Cal and finally got a chance to show what he can do against Navy with 146 yards on 19 carries, an average of just less than 7.7 yards.

Irish quarterback Jarious Jackson said Jones reminds him a lot of Autry Denson, Notre Dame's career rushing leader with 4,138 yards.

"He takes the ball and he takes what the defense gives him, or he's going to make something out of nothing," Jackson said. "You know something good is going to happen when he touches the football."

11-05-99