Hugh Freeze confirmed that he has moved corner Derrick Jones to wide receiver. At 6-2, 182 pounds, the sophomore has the body type and speed to play receiver, but its hard to believe Jones moved that far down the depth chart at corner since last year's superb performance against LSU.
At the time, defensive coordinator Dave Wommack called Jones a future NFL corner, but since then Jones has fallen behind freshman Kendarius Webster on the depth chart, and wasn't seeing much action. Freeze called the position switch an attempt to get the talented Jones on the field somewhere.
"Just he's a good athlete and we need some depth at receiver," said Freeze when asked about moving Jones. "… When you go into one of these afternoon games and know the chance of it being hot and us wanting to play like we play, right now we could move some guys around but if you look at the depth chart we really have only three outside guys. We need another guy semi-ready. I can't say that he could do everything in one week, but he's a really good athlete."According to the Clarion Ledger, offensive coordinator Dan Werner has been pushing for the move.
Jones was an All-State wide receiver at Eupora High School, catching 44 passes for 975 yards and 15 touchdowns. The move to wide receiver could be a quick one.
Although the first four receivers are set at Laquon Treadwell, Vince Sanders, Cody Core and Quincy Adeboyejo, it gets thin quick after that, especially with Collins Moore still out with an injury. Jones may get a chance to prove himself at receiver sooner rather than later.
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