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The words high school football and national spotlight are not traditionally together when speaking about the city of El Paso but that will soon change with Burges High School junior running back Tavorus Jones.
Being a dynamic athlete, Jones currently has eight Division I offers with top tier programs like The University of Alabama and University of Texas on the list.
“It means a lot because some of the schools I got offers from I did not think they would come this quick,“ Jones said. “It was pretty cool getting offers from bigger ones such as Alabama and Texas.
A versatile athlete in the truest sense, Jones‘s current marks as a Burges Mustang include 1,358 rushing yards, 498 receiving yards, 224 passing yards, and 23 total touchdowns in just two seasons.
“Tavorous threw a touchdown, caught a touchdown, and ran for a touchdown this past season and he makes things happen on his own and I think our coaches have done a great job on allowing him to shine,“ Burges Head Coach James Routledge said.
“I think it’s really good to be a versatile player and for college coaches to view me as a versatile player as I can play many positions,“ Jones said.
What started off as a standout offer to The University of Texas April 20 is now a well-rounded assembly of college football destinations and up-and-coming programs.
Jones‘s current list of offers include The University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, The University of Alabama, Arizona State University, The University of Kansas, The University of Texas at El Paso, Texas A&M University and The University of Maryland (https://247sports.com/Player/Tavorus-Jones-46101298/TimelineEvents/).
UTEP‘s offer to Jones was made May 23 and will be an interesting event to play out over the next two years. The possibility of Jones joining the Miner program will create lots of excitement for the program.
A national powerhouse and a desirable destination for many players across the country, The University of Alabama is an offer that pops on the Jones‘s offer list due to the program‘s storied history with 17 national titles as four of those were earned this decade.
“That‘s the school that I wanted to go to and my freshman year my coaches asked me what‘s a major school you want to go to and the first school I told them was Alabama,“ Jones said.
Exceptional athletes are known to be molded at Burges High School, such as former Mustang star and current National Football League Aaron Jones (no relation to Tavorus). Aaron Jones displayed tremendous ability during his time at Burges and has lent his knowledge to Jones, who looks to be the next Sun City prodigy.
“Aaron Jones and I talk constantly and mainly it is about the recruiting process such as knowing the coaches and the information given and just staying humble about all this,“ Jones said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the recruiting process for Jones is going through a different course as it is difficult for coaches to meet the touted recruit in person, but alternative options are taking place.
“It has been mostly phone calls and facetime meetings on zoom mostly as of late,“ Jones said.
“In a normal situation without COVID-19 we would have a lot more people come in and physically looking at us, so that‘s been kind of a drawback,“ Routledge said.
The national attention Jones is garnering is not only beneficial to his success but those around the Mustang program and others across the city of El Paso, which is not generally a hotbed for recruits in Texas, but undoubtedly has exceptional players every year.
“When a kid is getting recruited like Tavorus is, it brings eyes to the program and other kids might get an offer that they may not have gotten before,“ Routledge said.
“It’s also a benefit to El Paso football because nine times out of 10 these coaches will ask if I think there are any other kids in the city that can play and El Paso coaches are great about kids names out there,” Routledge said.
Looking to improve on last year’s solid 7-3 season is one of Jones’s current goals as he looks to lead the squad to a deep post season run after the Mustang’s early playoff exit last season at the hands of Lubbock Cooper.
“I think our team’s mindset is a lot stronger than it was last year and obviously we would like to go a lot further than we did last season and that’s our main goal to go further than we did ,” Jones said.
Isaiah Ramirez may be reached at [email protected]
