Landry Jones was born in the Artesia, New Mexico in April 4 1989. Just like any other kid he attended a home town school in Artesia high school where he started discovering his talent in football by leading his school team for two consecutive classes to championships. He was later named the player of the year and a finalist of the Joe Montana quarterback of the year award. Jones was among the highest regarded quarterbacks for the 2008 class with ratings from different publishers. Throughout his journey he was recruited by many schools including; Wisconsin, Stanford, Colorado, UCLA, Oregon and Virginia and eventually he committed to Oklahoma.
During his college life at the University of Oklahoma, Jones played for the Oklahoma Sooner football team from 2008 to 2012. Third-string quarterback Jones is now preparing for the biggest start of his career with the NFL game. Throughout his college life Jones has been leading the team by being on the start-lineup but he has never been on the start lineup on the NFL history. However with the absence of Roethlisberger who is dealing with a shoulder injury, Landry Jones automatically qualifies for the start lineup for the first time in his NFL career during their Sunday game with the Denver. Since the introduction of the season Jones has proved to be the best backup ahead of Michael Vick, by showing his talent and bringing the team from behind against Arizona Cardinals therefore securing his role as the backup.
Although Jones has never played in any regular season NFL game, he has broken many records during his time with the Oklahoma. However during the pre-season, Jones is proving that this is his year to prove his value in the club. With all these in perspective, there are 5 things you also need to know about Landry Jones as a footballer and his personal life.
1. His wife is from Oklahoma
In 2012, when many thought that Jones would move to NFL, after his junior season, Jones chose to stay for his engagement reasons with Whitney Hand another star from the Sooner basketball. The two got married on July 2012 the same year of their engagement in Fort Worth, Texas.
Although the senior season was not successful for Hand, since she tore her Anterior Cruciate Ligment (ACL) in the ninth game, both Jones and Hand were drafted into professional sports in April 2013 despite Hands injury.
2. Jones is not ashamed of claiming his faith
Jones is a passionate Christian who was born and raised from a Christian family. During his first season at the Oklahoma, Jones admits that he almost quitted football to focus on his faith when he was red-shirted. Jones states that after his career in football he will be working in the ministry. He is so vocal about his faith and you will always find his video clips on YouTube titled “I Am Second’, and on twitter. He has so many tweets proving his dedication to faith and Christianity.
3. He has positive response to criticism
Jones has worked extra hard to show his coach he is fit for the game despite the many critics from him since in most occasions he would be heard stating that Jones’ strengths out there have no impact if he cannot perform in here. However Jones takes that positively and has proven to be the best player of the season during 2015 regular season game with his wonderfully throwing 55 passes for 513 yards and three touchdowns.
4. He started 50 games at the Oklahoma
Landry Jones who is named after the legendary coach of the Dallas cowboy Tom Landry, despite the fact he knew Oklahoma had its top player Sam Bradford as their quarterback. Landry did not fear the fact that he was redshirted as a freshman, during his next year he was able to lead 10 games since Bradford had a shoulder injury. Jones would lead the freshman’s team with touchdown passes, finishing with a high school-record.
5. Laudry Jones expects to make his first post-season start
For a long season in his career Jones has never made a throw pass in the NFL game. However, this weekend Jones is preparing to make his first lead with the Steelers to AFC Championship. Despite the fact that Roethlisberger is having injuries, Steelers are still preparing for the game with all the hopes on Landry Jones shoulders.