Marvin Jones Jr: The 5-star signee that got Kirby Smart to sing karaoke on his official

Google the name “Marvin Jones Jr.” and there will be a trove of achievements to sort through.

5-star UGA signee. High School All-American. State champion out of American Heritage in South Florida. Nat Moore Award finalist. Son of an FSU All-American. The nation’s No. 24 overall prospect for 2022 on the 247Sports Composite ratings.

Jones has jaw-dropping God-given talent. It is no stretch to project him to leave UGA after three impressive years.

We will offer a different Marvin Jones Jr. story here than all of that.

It will involve karaoke.

And just a little bit about spearfishing.

And learning that two coaches at two different schools he was favoring were leaving for new jobs.

The terms “late bloomer” and “perseverance” matter here. His real-life experiences have taught him that things aren’t going to go his way. Those terms have instilled a work ethic and a desire to improve

They mean as much to why he will be a success as the way he bends, dips and rips after a first step so golden his fellow All-Americans envy it.

What makes his mother the proudest has nothing to do with athletic excellence, but mental toughness.

“The fact he didn’t start off as strong as people believed him to be,” his mother Alexsandra Jones said. “He evidently did finish up strong. But he not playing his eighth grade or ninth-grade years because of offense. He had people in front of him and was faced with having to wait in high school.”

Jones, the great pass rush prospect, was a receiver and a quarterback early in his career. This 5-star watched a lot of football games when he was in the eighth and ninth grade.

The nearly 6-foot-5 and 245-pounder didn’t start playing defense halfway through his high school career.

“Just having the patience to show up at practice every day and be there and just want to be a part of something,” she said. “You know eventually going on to defense and everything flourished for him. That’s what makes me the proudest about him. Him just sticking it out where maybe others might have thought to quit.”

“Perseverance” for Marvin Jones Jr.

Jones was a player when he was younger. He didn’t have to adjust to waiting his turn until high school.

“Perseverance” applied here to a young man whose father was just named to the College Football Hall of Fame. He won the Butkus and Lombardi Awards in 1992. “Shade Tree” was selected in the first round and played 10 seasons in the NFL.

That wasn’t the only legacy Marvin Jr. had to live up to. His uncle, Fred Jones, was also a linebacker at FSU.

The Georgia signee chose his own way as an edge rusher.

“He could have gone into his Dad’s shadow and been a linebacker but he chose to be something different,” his mother said. “He’s very versatile. He decided to be a quarterback and then he decided to be a receiver. I don’t think it was upsetting to him at all. I think he knew he wanted to play something specific and he was willing to wait it out in order to be able to play that position.”

His half-brother, Darryl Porter, was a defensive back at West Virginia for the last two seasons. He just put his name in the transfer portal this week.

Jones, who is also his mother, had been through the recruiting process with Porter in 2020. Darryl Porter Sr., his father, is an assistant coach at American Heritage. He has a unique connection to Marvin’s ascent as a 5-star pass-rush prospect.

The moment came while Marvin was still waiting his turn at wide receiver.

“Darryl’s Dad coaches the defense and he kind of just said one day at practice ‘Hey Marvin, do you want to play?’”

Marvin Jr. said: “Heck yeah I want to play.”

“He said ‘Then come play for me,’” Jones said. “He said ‘I will put you on defense’ and that’s how it happened. Marvin just went to defense after two-and-a-half years of offense and it just happened for him. It happened overnight and it happened during a time when it was really difficult during the pandemic. There were a lot of protocols in place and not being able to play the full sport because of the protocols in place. He still did amazing in his tenth-grade year.”

Jones played all over the field from his early years into middle school. But he was largely a quarterback.

So he waited his turn. On the offensive side. It never came there even though the first play on his senior highlight tape shows him sprinting downfield to haul in a pass for a big gain.

He gained 25-30 pounds before one season. Then he added another 25 pounds before the next season.

“People were like stunned,” Jones said. “They were like what are you feeding him. I said the same things. He just grew.”

None of this came easy. As much as he makes it look that way on his senior film.

If he maximizes his potential in Athens, he could challenge Georgia records for sacks. The experiences he has already been through indicate he just might be up for it.

“He wakes up every morning looking for a challenge,” Jones said. “And wanting to be challenged.”

An example showed at the All-American practices. It was there that he saw his future Georgia teammate take over the event with a couple of viral practice days. Jones was impressed. But also mature enough to ask Williams if he could pick his brain.

Williams was already a good friend from their mutual Georgia visits. He obliged. Watching Williams show Jones a few things was eye-opening. Then Jones had a few tips for Williams.

The sight of those two already in the lab together was already making Georgia better on defense. They weren’t even together in Athens yet. They were out in Texas.

“He’s someone that I can’t wait to work with,” Jones said out in Texas. “I think he does a lot of stuff better than me. Having him on my side I really think is going to elevate my game. I think it will elevate his. I think I do some stuff he doesn’t do. He does a lot of stuff I don’t do.”

“I think us being able to learn from each other is going to make us really great players.”

Williams wound up rated as the nation’s No. 4 overall prospect in this class. Both are cat-quick. Both are right at the 6-foot-5 mark or taller. Both will weigh over 250 pounds in college.

Good luck trying to slide the protection and double both of those guys on the same side.

“You can’t double both of us,” Jones said. “Let’s see how these next three years go.”

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