Carlon Jones has wasted no time carving out a spot in Arkansas’ defensive line mix, and the Razorbacks’ coaches are making it clear he’s more than just another body in a crowded room.
The 6-3, 327-pound redshirt junior transferred in from USC this spring and has climbed fast through summer work and the first stretch of fall camp. Arkansas believes the front is deep enough to keep a real rotation rolling, and Jones is sitting near the top of that group as the staff sorts out roles.
Defensive coordinator Ron Roberts felt good about roughly five linemen when camp opened, with three or more younger players pushing to join them. On Tuesday, defensive line coaches Kynjee' Cotton and Landius Wilkerson echoed that idea, saying that "every coach in America wants a rotation of 8-10 guys." Jones is one of the players they expect to matter.
"Carlon, he works, man," Wilkerson said. "He's a guy that got here in the spring, and we talked to him about footwork.
He attacked it. We talked to him about his hands, and he attacked it.
He came in, like most of those guys, they come in one-on-one to meet, watch film, study."
"He's a student of the game. He wants to be good.
He works at it, and in my opinion, he's been one of the guys in our room that's probably, from spring to now, had the most growth. He's been really, really pleasant to work with, and he's worked really hard."
Cotton was just as direct about Jones’ trajectory.
"The guy just keeps getting better each and every day," Cotton said. "He keeps getting better.
He could be as good as he wants to be, if we just turn that thing on every day. And then Sims is just consistency.
Consistency. Once he gets that, we have something special."
Jones said he is still battling David Oke for a starting job in fall camp. The two are splitting reps, though Oke has lined up with the starters more often so far.
Jones also knows where his biggest offseason work has been needed. He said his hand work has come a long way, but footwork and conditioning remain points of emphasis, especially if he wants to hold up over longer drives and bigger workloads.
"I made the most improvement with my hands, hand speed, and hand power, getting knocked back on blocks," Jones said. "But I still need to correct my footwork and stuff like that, and my conditioning a bit.
"I do have a little bit of lackadaisical in me when it's maybe play six, seven or something like that in the drive, and we have to keep going. Maybe it's tempo or something like that, so I need to correct my footwork and conditioning."
That self-assessment matches what Arkansas’ staff has been coaching since he arrived. Wilkerson said Jones has attacked every correction, from footwork to hand usage, and that growth has stood out from spring through camp.
Jones came out of Bay City High School in Texas as a four-star recruit and picked USC over Ohio State and plenty of other major programs. He was expected to make an early impact there, but a season-ending injury during his first fall camp changed that plan.
He returned last season, but USC’s deep defensive line room kept him from seeing much action. Jones played in eight games and finished with four tackles before entering the portal.
Cotton stayed on him throughout the recruiting process, and Jones said that persistence mattered. After his parents told him Cotton had reached out, Arkansas quickly became a serious option.
"Originally, my parents were telling me Coach Cotton had got in touch with them," Jones recalled. "(He) was on it, just constantly trying to recruit me and stuff like that. And then my parents were just telling me, they were like, 'we have to go visit Arkansas.They have a lot of interest in you.'
"So, the first day I got here, they worked wonders. I was like, this feels like home, feels like family.
It was just a good family environment for me and I was like, I feel like I can develop here and be able to perform here. So that's why I chose to come here."
Jones said he thinks the experience he picked up in a winning environment at USC can help Arkansas in its own push to build something better after a 2-10 season last year.
"I feel like it brings the winning aspect to it," Jones said. "Because everyone knows how to win since we came from solid programs.
I feel like that's what we bring to the table. We know what it takes to win, and what the flaws were maybe in their past here, like that's what we bring to the table."
Arkansas has completed six days of fall camp and has 19 practices left before the season opener against North Alabama on Sept. 5.
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