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Jaden Jones played sparingly for Rutgers football as a mid-season freshman enrollee last season, but he has plenty of promise and potential.
The four-star recruit brings some frontcourt help for Rutgers with head coach Steve Pikiell believing that his program is getting a player who is going to be able to contribute and help this season. The early enrollment was a net positive for Jones, who had the benefit last winter and spring of practicing and getting in the Rutgers system.
“Yeah, Jaden is gonna be really good, can really score, you know, but, you know like freshmen he’s playing against veterans every day, but he has days where he’s, you know, he’s really good,” Pikiell told reporters last week.
“I mean he can pass the ball, he’s got great size, I mean his stand-still… can shoot the balls, his threes he’s as good as, as good as anybody. But you know there’s always that learning curve. I mean you don’t go from high school to play in Purdue and not have a learning curve with that but he’s getting better and better and the weight gain has helped them to become more durable.”
The benefit for Jones enrolling early was not as much about playing time but practice time as well as getting in the weight room.
In 11 minutes played last year across four games, Jones scored three points, had three assists, and one rebound. All four games came in Big Ten play, two against ranked opponents (Iowa, Illinois).