Last Friday, Rutgers football offered Florida offensive lineman Johnnie ‘DJ’ Jones. The offer sees the Big Ten program get in early with a class of 2026 recruit who could and should develop into a national recruit.
Coming off a strong junior season at Berkeley Prep (Tampa, Florida), Jones is starting to gather some solid momentum in his recruitment.
Jones, at 6-foot-6 and 295 pounds, has great size to be a Big Ten offensive tackle. He holds a strong offer list that includes Power Five programs Boston College and Syracuse as well as Rutgers. On Sunday, South Florida offered Jones.
He talked with Rutgers Wire on Sunday about the offer from Rutgers.
“My football coach, coach Ciao called me down to his office and told me the information,” Jones told Rutgers Wire.
“I believe Rutgers is a great program and with the win over Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl they have something to build off of coming in for this year.”
Rutgers finished this past season with a 7-6 (3-6 Big Ten) record, their first winning season since 2014. They defeated Miami 31-24 in the Pinstripe Bowl.
[lawrence-related id=34997,34995,34993]
Visits for this spring and summer are currently being planned out with his parents. Currently, Jones is focused on his schoolwork and is certainly staying active.
“Playing basketball and working out with my dad before we start workouts for the team,” said Jones, he plays as a center or a power forward for Berkeley.
“I’ve been able to move faster and move people out the way more on the basketball court so I’ll hope to be able to translate it to the football field.”