Sports
This runner ain’t no Walker... yet
By Steve Turcotte
Of th« Emarakt
In his own silent and
persistent way, Terrance Jones
has been getting the job done in
the offensive backfield for the
Oregon football team
Although, he hasn't gotten
the notoriety of a Herschel
Walker or John Elway, Jones
has been there week in and
week out this season taking the
handoffs from Duck
quarterbacks and zipping
through the opposing defensive
lines
For three years at Oregon,
Jones has toiled as a sometime
starter and backup But this
year, after finally gaining a
permanent starting role, he is
happy
"I thought I should have been
named starting fullback after
spring drills (last year) because I
felt I played very well,"
explained Jones "But Dwight
Robertson was moved from
tailback to fullback and I was
second-string ''
Jones was not second-string
for long though, because
Robertson suffered an early
season knee injury which has
kept him out of the lineup until
last week
So Jones has stepped in and
filled in most admirably Oregon
coach Rich Brooks is not at all
timid to give Jones the ball and
let him go to work
"Terrance has played some
good football ever since he's
been here and especially this
year," said Brooks "He has
continued to get better every
week I have been pleased with
his performance "
Jones, too, feels that the im
provement factor has played a
big role in the way he has
performed on the field this
season
“I think I have been improving
every week," said Jones. "The
key for me is to keep improving
The main thing right now that I
am trying to work on is my
blocking
So far this year, Jones’ statis
tics have been one of the few
offensive highlights for the
Ducks The senior fullback has
carried the ball 98 times for 395
yards, a 4-yard average every
time he touches the football In
addition, he has scored two
touchdowns which ties him for
the team lead in that
department Jones has also
caught five passes for another
29 yards
"I think we expected
Terrance to be able to get the
yards he is getting," said
Brooks "He is not a real shifty
runner, but a good power run
ner But he is getting some good
moves
Jones' football career at Ore
gon has been one of ups and
downs The ups coming early
and late in his career while the
downs plagued the middle por
tion of his tenure at Oregon
Jones got his first Duck start
against USC his sophomore
season in the 7-7 Duck-Trojan
standoff at Autzen Stadium
Jones recalls the game as if it
were only yesterday
“USC was my best game that
year by far," Jones said "That
is still one of my best games I
have ever played I got the only
touchdown against the Trojans
and that was pretty thrilling "
Jone s statistics for his
sophomore year weren't
overwhelming, but statistics
aren’t supposed to be for a
seldom-used sophomore He
carried the ball 33 times for 109
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yards and two touchdowns
But the next season is one
that Jones calls "a season I’d
like to forget.”
Last year was bad for me,'
said Jones ”1 started the first
game against Fresno State
when Vince Williams wasn't
eligible I started the next three
games but after that I was in the
doghouse
”1 got suspended when I
missed the team bus from the
hotel to practice on Friday night
at the Arizona State game
Things just weren't the same
after that It was real disappoint
ing
Jones carried the ball just 24
times for 89 yards last year, in
cluding one run of 29 yards
But Jones almost didn't get a
chance to carry the football in
college because of a dangerous
injury suffered in a hiqh school
grid tilt
In his senior year at Norte Del
Rio High School in Sacramento,
Jones suffered a collapsed lung
on the first play from scrimmage
in the team's first game of the
season
' I kind of got speared on the
play,” said Jones I tried to play
the next couple of plays but just
couldn't stand the pain I found
out later that it was a partially
collapsed lung
The injury, which is some
times very serious, didn't keep
Jones out of the lineup very
Photos by Bob Bakei
Terrance Jones breaks into the open (top). Osborn Thomas and
Jones celebrate after Jones' scored a touchdown against Notre
Dame (bottom). Thomas points out that Jones scored, while Jones
shows that Thomas set it up with a 23 yard catch, which brought the
Ducks to the Irish ’s one yard line
long He missed two games that
season and came back and
began tearing up opposing
defensive lines
Some doctor wanted to put a
tube in me which would have
kept me out for the season,”
explained Jones of his injury
Another doctor said that if I got
rest I could come back in a
couple of weeks ”
Jones did come back and fin
ished the season with 875 yards
and an invitation from Oregon to
play football
Jones also had a Duck
connection in the form of Duck
assistant coach Bill Tarrow
Tarrow coached at Norte Del
Rio for 15 years before
accepting the assistant job at
Oregon in 1977 Although
Tarrow left before Jones' senior
season, he did have some in
direct impact on Jones
attending the Univesity
"I knew Coach Tarrow would
have gone to a good school to
coach so I knew Oregon must
be a a good place to play
football,'' Jones said "I already
knew a few people here and I
wanted to play Pac-10 football
And Pac-10 football is what
Jones has been playing for four
hard years
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