Are they starvin' Marvin?
I must have caught Marvin Jones on a bad day. I certainly caught Etiwanda on one.
My much-anticipated first viewing of the all-everything Etiwanda receiver in the Eagles 31-13 loss Thursday night left me feeling a little empty. It left Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce in far worse condition.
The fact that his star receiver dropped a couple of passes in a game he finished with five receptions for 64 yards was probably a minor concern of Bryce's by the end of the night. (The competitive Jones, however, would probably rather have dropped a couple of his 14 scholarship offers instead)
There is nothing minor about the concern Bryce likely has about his quarterback situation. I'm sure Bryce was alarmed when sophomore starter Angel Santiago's first-half passing yardage peaked at eight with his second completion. It dipped over the next seven throws to his halftime total of FIVE.
Jones probably wasn't envisioning 1,300 more yards this season when his QB was on pace to throw for a first down by the game's end.
Santiago, just a sophomore making his third-ever start, will have plenty of bad company during the game film review this weekend. He didn't exactly have great protection Thursday night. Or a running game - Jones's 24 yards made him the team's leading rusher entering the fourth quarter. In fact, Etiwanda running back Vince Minor's 18-yard throwback pass to Jones made him the Eagles' leading passer until well into the second half. (For those of you updating your depth chart, that made a running back the leading passer and a receiver the leading rusher at halftime)
A livid Bryce's postgame reaction: "We had good receivers out there dropping passes, we had quarterbacks making bad reads, we couldn't pick up a blitz. It wasn't one thing or one person, it takes a whole team to screw up that bad."
To his credit, Santiago did complete 6-of-7 passes for 71 yards on a lengthy scoring drive in garbage time, providing a peek at the real Marvin Jones in the process. Jones made a sweet leaping catch in between two defenders before hauling in another reception in traffic.
Jones - easily the most heralded recruit in the Daily Bulletin coverage area - has 20 receptions for 227 yards and 1 TD in three games. But the 6-foot-3, 191-pound specimen with 4.5 speed can't expect to approach his 63-catch, 1,300-yard, 13-TD season of 2006 without QB David Vasquez, nearly a 3,000-yard passer last year.
Jones neednt worry about his status with the college scouts, though. He is already the 10th-ranked recruit in California, the 14th-ranked receiver in the nation, according to rivals.com.
Cal, Oregon, Nebraska, Arizona State, etc. won't be withdrawing their offers anytime soon.
Have a look at highlight or 30 of Jones from last season. Oh yeah, No. 3 plays a little D too.