The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Catching up with Brian Jones
05.17.2002 | Football
On Thursday, Mack Brown-TexasFootball.com had the opportunity to catch up with former UT linebacker Brian Jones (1989-90). Jones had a solid senior year in 1990 when he was a first-team All-Southwest Conference selection after leading the Longhorns with 116 tackles (71 solo) and five forced fumbles. He also registered four sacks, eight QB pressures and one fumble recovery in helping lead UT to a 10-2 record, the SWC Championship and a No. 12 final national ranking. As a junior, Jones led the Horns with 108 stops and tied for the team lead with seven sacks. An eighth-round selection by the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1991 NFL Draft, he played eight years in the NFL (1991-98) for the Indianapolis Colts (1991), Miami Dolphins (1992), the Raiders (1994) and New Orleans Saints (1995-98). In spring 2000, Jones returned to Texas to finish the requirements for his corporate communications degree. On Friday afternoon, after two years of hard work in the classroom, he will become the first member of his family to graduate from college, keeping a promise he made when he decided to live his dream of playing professional football. These days, Jones can be heard locally on the radio as he hosts "The Afternoon Show" with Chad Hastings and Kevin Dunn from 4-7 p.m. every Monday-Friday on Sports Radio 1300-AM The Zone. He also serves as the Longhorn Sports Network's sideline reporter for all UT football games and is the host of Longhorn Sports Center with Mack Brown and Rick Barnes.
What have you been up to since the end of your NFL career in 1998? I returned to Texas in the spring of 2000 to finish my degree in corporate communications. I had a couple of years to go toward the degree, so I have been pretty busy with school. I then fell into this radio gig where I first started hosting the postgame show for UT football. That was in the fall of 2000. Then I got my current job as the host of the afternoon sports talk show in March of 2001. I also became the sideline reporter for football last fall and started hosting the Longhorn Sports Center shows with Mack Brown and Rick Barnes. That's what I've been doing in a nutshell.
What got you interested in the media side of sports? Like I said, I kind of just fell into it. It was something I had done in the past when I was a player. Lawrence Sampleton was the sideline guy before me and someone told me he wasn't going to return and asked me if I'd like to audition. I wanted to get involved because I sometimes think the athletes don't have a credible voice, if you will, in the media. You hear guys taking criticism from people that have never played the game and I thought I'd come in and try to give a fair and balanced view of what's going on. I try to give an alternative view than what exists out there these days. Sometimes people have a tendency to lose sight of the fact that these are college kids playing on the field.
You've been in school for the last two years now. What kind of course load have you taken during that time and how have you been able to juggle being a full-time student and having a full-time job at the same time? For the most part, I took a full-time load of classes. There were a couple of semesters that I took only six or nine hours, but this last semester I took 12. I even took a summer course to stay ahead. It hasn't been too difficult juggling the two. My job at the radio station keeps me on the air three hours a day, so I had plenty of time to go to class and get my studies done. The sacrifice I had to make was my social life. I've grown up as a person so much these last two years.
What was the key to getting your degree completed? Just being more focused. First of all, it was something I wanted to do. Having been in the 'real world' for a while, things with school just register more to me now. I've talked to some other students that are my age and they all said the same thing. It's like a light comes on and things make more sense.
Why was coming back so important for you? No one in my family has ever graduated from college. My grandmother raised me and I promised her I'd come back and finish my degree. I knew that's what she wanted. She's not with us anymore, but I'm sure she'd be more excited about this than anything I did on the field.
You've kind of had the best of both worlds in that you got to live out one of your dreams by playing in the NFL, and at the same time, you came back and earned your degree. That's true, but I've never been more excited about anything in my life than I am about getting my degree. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am. I know it doesn't guarantee me wealth, but there is just something about completing this process. Just knowing that I am part of a group of people that have earned their degrees is cool.
Do you look at yourself as a role model because of this? I don't think of myself as a role model in any sense, but is it something other college football players can look at, especially here at UT since I am close to them? I think so. I tell the players all the time to go study and take care of as much as you can now so you don't have to come back. I know it's tough to get it finished in four or five years, but get as much done now when you have the chance. Then, when you come back, you won't have as much to do as I did. Hopefully, people can look at what I have done and say it's important and they can come back and get it done.
What emotions will be going through your mind when they call your name at commencement? I don't even want to think about it because I might start crying. I just get chill bumps thinking about it. It's going to be like coming out of the tunnel at the OU/Texas game, side-by-side. It's going to be incredible. I'm probably going to be numb. I've played football games in front of a 100,000 people before and I don't think it's going to compare. It's just going to be wild. I'm going to speak at the university-wide commencement on Saturday, so that's going to be even more emotional.
What did you take away from your NFL career? Pain, suffering and I played on some bad teams. Seriously though, I was able to live a dream. I had three goals when I was younger and that was to play football at The University of Texas, play in the NFL and do some acting. I achieved all of them, the acting on a lesser level. It was just fun. What I miss the most is the camaraderie, the locker room and hanging out with the guys. I got to be around a lot of different personalities and that was a learning experience for me.
