After Rivals.com recruiting analysts saw Broderick Jones impress at Future 50 early in 2019, the Georgia commit immediately jumped into the five-star discussion.
During the last three 2020 rankings meetings, Jones’ name has come up, but we wanted to wait until the season to better gauge his improvement. After seeing him live early in the season, his name has heated up even more. If he continues to play this way through the end of the season, he could be on that five-star list when the rankings are finalized.
RANKINGS QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Who's a five-star candidate?
SIMMONS' TAKE: Jones making a statement with recent play
There has been a debate on the last few calls about whether or not Jones was a five-star offensive tackle. He was up and down as a junior, but he shined at Future 50 in January. The Rivals100 talent out of Lithonia does not camp much, so he wasn’t re-evaluated until his season opener against Forest Park on Thursday.
Jones made a statement in his first game of 2019. Some will say he did not face real competition on the other side of the ball, and that may be true, but he did what he was supposed to do — dominate. It reminded me when I was scouting former Georgia offensive tackle Trinton Studivant, a very athletic offensive tackle out of North Carolina. He faced a lot of smaller, quicker defensive ends, but his ability to bend, stay with them in pass protection and not get lazy convinced me to rank him high. He went on to start for the Bulldogs as a true freshman.
Jones is one of the most athletic linemen in the country. He looks like a strongside defensive end with no bad weight. After starting camp at a shade over 300 pounds, he played Thursday at around 285 pounds because of all the workouts in heat this summer. He is a natural bender, he has great feet, he is so athletic and his performance last week may land him one more vote for a fifth star on that next call.
I have been one saying “not yet” on a fifth star, and some other analysts disagreed, but this performance may have moved me to the other side. His balance was better, he played with more control, his technique was better and he was as he should have been — very impressive.
