Tag: Trente Jones

Packers undrafted rookie Trente Jones placed on reserve/retired list

Packers rookie Trente Jones was placed on the reserve/retired list on Monday.

The Green Bay Packers placed undrafted rookie offensive lineman Trente Jones was placed on the reserve/retired list on Monday.

In a YouTube video, Jones explained that he injured his back, leading to the decision to retire. He left open the possibility of his back recovering and returning to football.

Jones, who went undrafted out of Michigan in the 2024 draft, signed with the Packers as one of the team’s eight undrafted free agent signings. He participated during the Packers’ rookie minicamp earlier this month.

Being placed on the reserve/retired list removes Jones from the team’s 90-man roster, opening up a roster spot for the Packers to use.

Jones started 14 games over four seasons at Michigan, including the final three — the Big Ten title game and the two playoff games — during the Wolverines’ title game run last year.

PFF picked Jones as an undrafted free agent to watch for the Packers this summer. Barring a change of heart, Jones is moving on from football in a playing capacity.

The Packers also announced the claiming of defensive lineman Spencer Waege, an undrafted free agent out of North Dakota State from the 2023 class. More on Waege here.

Packers lose UDFA offensive lineman to retirement after rookie minicamp

Packers lose UDFA offensive lineman Trente Jones to retirement after rookie minicamp

After signing as an undrafted free agent with the Green Bay Packers following the 2024 NFL Draft, former Michigan offensive lineman Trente Jones had some promise of an NFL career.

Jones decided to put an end to any potential with the Packers, or any other NFL team, after the first weekend of rookie minicamp. The Wolverines tackle was expected to transition inside to guard in Green Bay, but Jones instead opted to file for retirement.

The Packers placed Jones on the reserve/retired list. To fill his spot, Green Bay claimed defensive lineman Spencer Waege off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers. Waege was an undrafted rookie for the 49ers in 2023 who spent most of his first season on San Francisco’s practice squad.

PFF picks OL Trente Jones as Packers’ UDFA to watch in 2024

Can UDFA offensive lineman Trente Jones win a roster spot for the Packers in 2024?

The Green Bay Packers’ eight-player undrafted free agent class in 2024 includes two intriguing offensive linemen: Donovan Jennings out of USF and Trente Jones out of Michigan.

Jennings, a long-time starter at left tackle with elite athleticism, could make some noise at guard as a first-year player. But don’t sleep on Jones, who played multiple positions and was excellent down the stretch for Michigan.

Thomas Valentine of Pro Football Focus picked Jones as his undrafted free agent to watch for the Packers in 2024.

From Valentine: “Not unlike the Browns, the Packers have made developing offensive linemen into something of an art form in recent seasons. Jones has had limited game time at Michigan but earned an 81.1 pass-blocking grade for his work in 2023, splitting his time between left tackle, right tackle and as an extra offensive lineman, but could kick inside to guard on the Packers roster.”

Jones (6-3, 305) played in 41 games but made just 13 starts — nine at right tackle and four more as the sixth offensive lineman and extra tackle. He ended up playing only 839 total snaps across five seasons at Michigan, one of the most talented programs in the country and the 2023 national champions.

Jones did start at right tackle for the final three games of Michigan’s title run last season. He played Iowa in the Big Ten title game and Alabama and Washington in the playoffs and held his own, especially in the passing game.

Overall, Jones allowed only nine total pressures across 319 career pass-blocking snaps during his collegiate career, and he earned solid grades as a run blocker.

From Dane Brugler of The Athletic: “He moves with functional quickness and lower-body flexibility, although his anchor is inconsistent. He must learn to play with tighter hands and better poise and blocking angles. Overall, Jones is very average across the board, and NFL talent will feast on his inexperience, but he is a strong practice-squad candidate for a team that sees his development potential.”

Can the Packers move Jones inside and find a capable developmental guard or center? Even though the Packers took three offensive linemen in the draft, Jones should get a true opportunity to earn a roster spot this summer.

Green Bay Packers UDFA Profile: OL Trente Jones

Here is a breakdown with what you need to know about Green Bay Packers undrafted offensive lineman Trente Jones.

The Green Bay Packers signed eight undrafted rookies following the 2024 NFL Draft. Given the Packers’ rich history of UDFAs not only making the team but eventually becoming impact players, let’s get to know each of these signees.

Next up is Michigan offensive lineman Trente Jones. If you missed the previous profiles, you can find them below:

OL Donovan Jennings
RB Jarveon Howard
DL James Ester

Height: 6-4
Weight: 305
RAS: 7.45

College profile

Breakdown: Jones was a 4-star recruit coming out of high school but never could secure consistent starting time at the tackle position. He finished his career at Michigan with fewer than 1,000 snaps, most of which came at right tackle, but he has some left tackle experience as well. Jones will be a guard for the Packers. During his final two seasons, which consisted of  395 snaps in 2023 and 335 in 2022, Jones allowed three sacks and nine pressures. He regularly graded out well as a run-blocker by PFF’s metrics. Like Donovan Jennings, the current construction of the interior offensive line could provide an opportunity for Jones to make a roster push. If we expect Elgton Jenkings, Josh Myers, Sean Rhyan, and Jacob Monk to be on the 53-man, that potentially leaves a roster spot up for grabs.

What NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein had to say: “Jones has limited starts and relatively few offensive snaps by NFL offensive line standards but he’s put outstanding flashes on tape. He lacks the size and length teams look for at tackle or guard, but he’s talented enough to play at either spot. He loses reps due to poor positioning or overstepping his landmarks, but is rarely beaten by an opponent’s quickness or power. Jones is highly athletic, with the ability to bend and drive opponents off the spot or stall the rush with his punch and cinch. He has the talent to play in all blocking schemes, but there might be concerns about why he failed to establish himself as a full-time starter at Michigan.”

What you need to know about Michigan football players in the East-West Shrine Bowl, how to watch

Everything you need to know about the NFL showcase taking place on Thursday, February 1, 2024.

It will be one of the last opportunities you’ll get to see outgoing Michigan football players wearing their winged helmets, as several outgoing seniors participate in one of the esteemed NFL showcases.

There are four former Michigan football players who are participating in the annual East-West Shrine Bowl which is held in Frisco, Texas at the practice home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

Here are the details you need to know about the game:

Date: Thursday, February 1, 2024
Time: 8 p.m. EST
Where: The Star (Frisco, Tx.)
Channel: NFL Network

Here are the former Wolverines who will be participating in the game on Thursday evening.

Michigan football OT Trente Jones announces NFL draft decision

Another huge decision made. #GoBlue

Sunday saw a lot of departures from Michigan football — from the expected seniors such as Trevor Keegan, Zak Zinter, Blake Corum, Jaylen Harrell, and Braiden McGregor, to quarterback J.J. McCarthy deciding to try his hand in the NFL draft. But Monday saw the opposite, with running back Donovan Edwards and safety Rod Moore announcing they will come back for their senior seasons.

But there are others at play, such as offensive tackle Trente Jones.

Jones did not win the starting job outright, but ended up playing the right tackle position for the final three games — the Big Ten Championship, the Rose Bowl, and the national championship game. Having come aboard as part of the 2019 class, if Jones were to return, he’d be a sixth-year senior.

As it turns out, Jones is not taking that chance, having announced that he will not come back for one more season, declaring for the NFL draft, bucking the Monday trend.

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With Jones gone, Michigan has Myles Hinton flanking one spot on the outside, transfer Josh Priebe and senior Giovanni El-Hadi at the guard positions, and either Greg Crippen or Raheem Anderson at center this upcoming season. The question will then be who will play the other tackle position.

Where do Trente Jones and Nolan Rumler stand in their development?

The Michigan football offensive line coach shares where the two second-year players are in their development.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — This offseason, we’ve heard about all sorts of up-and-coming offensive linemen for Michigan.

On Monday, head coach Jim Harbaugh noted that second-year tackle Karsen Barnhart is essentially a starter, while on Wednesday, offensive line coach Ed Warinner shared that Trevor Keegan, Zach Carpenter, Reece Atteberry and Zak Zinter have gotten time with the ones before being relegated to the twos.

But what does that mean for some of the other players entering their second-year who we haven’t heard much about? Namely former four-stars Trente Jones and Nolan Rumler?

Hailing from southern powerhouse Loganville (GA) Grayson, Jones came to Ann Arbor rated the No. 108 recruit in the 2019 class, per the 247Sports Composite. Yet, he hasn’t gotten the mentions of the others, despite being rated higher than all of them.

Warinner shared where Jones is as far as his development, noting that he has superstar potential once he learns to be more consistent on a day-to-day basis.

“Trente is running with the twos and he’s really come a long way,” Warinner said. “His trajectory – the biggest thing we tell Trente is he has the ability, he plays fast – consistency. When he becomes the same guy every day, holy cow! I think we’ll have something there. But he’ll have days where he has wow days and other days, not so good. So we’re really trying to develop consistency. But you can see it’s in him. And it’s just a matter of coming in mentally and being consistent physically.

“He’s on a good trajectory. For a redshirt freshman, he’s right where most redshirt freshmen are. Kinda in the wings, kind of – not having a spring ball hurt him. It would have been fantastic for him to have a spring. But I see his future is still glowing brightly.”

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Rumler’s lack of press has had Michigan football fans wondering aloud what’s happened in his development.

Rated No. 174 overall in the 2019 247Sports Composite, Rumler came in as a guard, but many had him pegged as the future starting center. With Cesar Ruiz having moved on, it’s Zach Carpenter in his class who ended up in the middle, but Rumler hadn’t gotten any mention as someone contending for a guard spot.

Warinner says that he’s still on track, but has been somewhat hampered with injuries — especially as of late.

“Nolan was running and doing a lot of good things with the twos, but then he’s had a couple little injuries here that have set him back,” “He’s been slowed down just a little bit. But nothing permanent. He’s gonna start working into practice, but last week and this week, he hasn’t practiced much. Minor things have kind of slowed him.

“He’s doing fine, too. He would have a lot of quality reps with the twos in camp at guard, playing guard, playing right guard. His time will come, too. His time will come.”

For both, Warinner reiterated that the absence of spring ball did neither any favors, but it appears they’ll be factors down the road once they continue to progress in the system.

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An achievement worth celebrating

One Wolverine showcased that he’s exemplifying the notion of being one of the “Leaders and Best.”

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At a place like Michigan, there’s always a strong focus on the achievements made on the football field. But while that’s certainly the benchmark for the public in regards to the football team, there’s a lot more at stake for these student-athletes.

When Jim Harbaugh arrived in Ann Arbor, he didn’t shy away from the comments he once made when he took the reins over at Stanford. It drew the ire of then-head coach Lloyd Carr as well as prolific Wolverines running back Mike Hart.

The latest controversy started when Harbaugh, who was hired from the University of San Diego in December, told the San Francisco Examiner in May that Michigan lowers its admissions standards for football players and advises them to take easy classes.

Harbaugh made his comments in defense of his new employer.

“College football needs Stanford,” Harbaugh told the Examiner. “We’re looking not for student-athletes, but scholar-athletes. No other school can carry this banner. The Ivy League schools don’t have enough weight. Other schools which have good academic reputations have ways to get borderline athletes in and keep them in.”

A week later, Harbaugh told the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News, “I would use myself as an example. I came in there, wanted to be a history major, and I was told early on in my freshman year that I shouldn’t be, that it takes too much time, too much reading, that I shouldn’t be a history major and play football.”

Speaking at the Big Ten Conference kickoff Wednesday, Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said of Harbaugh’s comments, “Do I think they’re elitist? Yeah. Arrogant? Yes. Self-serving? Yes.”

So when Harbaugh left the NFL to return to his alma mater, he vowed to make sure that the Wolverines excelled in the classroom as well as on the gridiron. So far, he’s kept true to that promise.

Much more of the student side of ‘student-athlete’ can be read about in John U. Bacon’s latest book Overtime (review) but there are some more continuous real-world examples coming out of Ann Arbor these days.

For instance, despite the classroom setting moving from campus to the student-athlete’s home, some of the football players have showcased their dedication to the academic side of things. One such case is Michigan offensive lineman Trente Jones, a Georgia native and former four-star prospect, who just finished up his first year at the University of Michigan.

And he displayed just how serious he’s been about holding his end of the bargain by holding himself to the highest possible standard.

Last fall, and astounding 37 members of the football program were named to the Academic All-Big Ten team, and there were 45 the year before that, and 48 the year before. While that number might be dwindling somewhat, but when you look to the previous regimes, it’s a significant improvement.

There were just 12 in 2014, 10 in 2013, 16 in 2012, 12 in 2011, 8 in 2010, 10 in 2009 and 9 in 2008.

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Jim Harbaugh has kept true to his word, developing players both on the field and off. While development on the field has been challenged by many pundits, the Wolverines did manage to send 10 players to the 2020 NFL Draft, tied for the second-most in all of college football. Should Harbaugh and Michigan find a way to finally get past Ohio State and into the Big Ten Championship, then Ann Arbor will truly be the complete package — more than it already may be.

For a school whose motto tends from the latter line in the first chorus of “The Victors,” as far as academics are concerned, the football team is truly embodying that of being the “Leaders and Best.”

So congratulations to Trente Jones and all of the other Wolverines who adhere to that, and have strived impossibly in the classroom. Given the demands placed upon football players, it’s certainly not an easy task. But it’s certainly one worth mentioning and celebrating.

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