The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Longhorn Profiles: Brandon Jones
10.11.2019 | Football
The senior DB is a team captain and a candidate for the Nagurski and Lott IMPACT trophies.
When Texas safety Brandon Jones, a Lott IMPACT Trophy quarterfinalist, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Jim Thorpe Award candidate and team captain, runs out of the tunnel at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday for his fourth Red River Showdown, he'll be doing so a mere 30 miles from where his father, Bert, starred for Lewisville High School.
"He's really the reason I started playing football; I wanted to be like him," Brandon said. "He was there from the jump. He taught me how to run the ball, he taught me everything I know about the game."
A standout running back for the Fighting Farmers, Bert Jones went on to play for Stephen F. Austin and shared his love of football with Brandon and his four other sons: Bryson, Brayden, Brennan and Braxton. He served as a coach or assistant coach for all their city league teams and, for a time, served on the board of directors for the league.
"He told me since I was seven that if I put in the effort and doing what I was doing, I could be playing on Sundays," Brandon said. "I remember him waiting for me and my brothers in the end zone – waiting for us to score."
Sadly, Bert never had the opportunity to watch his son play in the biggest rivalry game in college football, including when Brandon had a team-high nine tackles and an interception in Texas' 48-45 Red River Showdown victory over the Sooners last season. In October 2010, while Brandon was in seventh grade, Bert was diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer.
Brandon's mother, Sarah, was faced with breaking the news to her five boys, whose ages ranged from four to 14 years old.
"I didn't lie to them because we pretty much knew he had maybe three months, four months to live, which took me a while to comprehend, too," Sarah said. "I just tried to explain to the older kids that he's probably not going to live very long. He may have six months, he may not be here for Christmas, we just didn't know."
Sarah and Bert met when they were assigned to a study group in a criminal justice class at SFA in 1987. She was a senior seeking an interesting class that would count towards her degree, he was a freshman. They began dating while Sarah worked toward a graduate degree in psychology and Bert went on to earn his bachelor's degree in social work. They married in December 1992.
Both went on to careers in the health service field, Sarah working as a psychologist at the school district and the Burke Center in Nacogdoches and Bert as a Texas state auditor as well as a service director and program director in local East Texas community agencies that serviced individuals with developmental disabilities.
"Our jobs overlapped quite a bit," Sarah said. "We basically had a whole 20-year health career where we were in the health service fields, serving the same population of people."
After a four-month battle with cancer, Bert Jones passed away on January 10, 2011. He was 43 years old.
"At that age, you're aware of what's going on, but it's scary," Brandon said. "I remember seeing my dad each day lose more and more weight and not being able to take care of himself. I saw him the day before and told him I'd see him right after school.
"My mom picked me up at school and planted the news on me. I was devasted, I was hurt … it didn't feel real. She would go around picking up my brothers and giving them the news, and every time someone got in everyone in the car would start crying."
The family was in a state of shock.
"Your life is turned completely upside down; you have to find your way and figure out how you're going to get through it," Sarah said. "My biggest fear was that I was being left alone to raise five boys. Bert was a great father, very hands-on. He was a coach or assistant coach for all their peewee teams, but he would also do much of the basic childcare work – he'd bathe them and clip their fingernails and was really involved in their lives."
Sarah is certain that Bert would be proud of everything Brandon has accomplished both on the field and in life.
"Brandon's handled so much of this with such an amazing amount of maturity, and I'm not sure how he's done it," Sarah said. "He's had family, friends and coaches who've definitely helped him, but Brandon really has been taking a lot of it on as self-appointed initiative. Maybe this is Bert in heaven helping him along the way."
For Brandon, it is his mother that deserves much of the credit. 
"My mom is like Wonder Woman," Brandon said. "She basically does it all. I see a lot of her in myself; I've been blessed to have a parent like her."
To honor his father's memory, Brandon wears his father's high school number, 33, on a specially made hand towel during games, a practice he began while he was playing at Nacogdoches High School. He makes a new towel for every season and adds a different touch to it each time.
"It's just a sense that I know that my dad is with me at all times," Brandon said. "If I have a bad play or do something wrong, I can look down at the towel and it motivates me. His overall message, and something that's stuck with me through the years is he was a big believer that you have to practice hard and have fun. He always said, know and trust that what you do in practice is going to show up on game day and you play your best ball when you're able to have fun."
Senior defensive lineman Malcolm Roach, who arrived on the Forty Acres in the same recruiting class, can vouch for the fact that Jones is following his father's message.
"He's a great guy to be around and a guy that I can depend on to always do things right," Roach said. "He loves being around the guys, he brings a great energy to the team, but he also knows when he has to be serious; he knows when he has to correct people and teach them. He's a guy that you can respect, but a guy that you could have fun with at the same time."
Second-year defensive lineman Keondre Coburn agrees.
"He's friendly, always been honest, funny sometimes and not too serious," Coburn said. "Coming in as a freshman with all these top players, I thought he was going to mess with me. But when I was hurt, he was always asking how I was doing and if I was good. He's like a brother. He's a real teammate and captain."
Sarah Jones is not surprised by her son's leadership abilities and was beaming with pride when Tom Herman called her in August to let her know Brandon had been voted a team captain.
"He's just like his father, driven more for the team than individual glory," Sarah said. "The driving motivation is for the team and he'll do what he can for the team. I just think his future is wide open with fantastic possibilities and I know his daddy's rooting for him in heaven as I am here on earth."
On the field, Jones is having great success and has grown into one of the Big 12 Conference's premier defensive players. He is tied for the team lead with 29 tackles (21 solo), three pass breakups, a fumble recovery, three tackles for loss and a sack in 2019. During his career, Jones has played in 39 career games with 28 starts. He has 176 tackles (132 solo), 12.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions.
"My family has driven me to where I am," Brandon said. "I just want to make them proud."
