After Malik Hornsby’s decommitment, the Tar Heels 2020 recruiting ranking took a dip to the lowest mark since January. The Heels wasted no time rebounding, though.
2020 3✮ RB D.J. Jones announced his commitment to Carolina via social media on Wednesday afternoon around 3:00, an hour earlier than his scheduled commitment time. Jones, who is a rising senior at Pine Forest High School in Fayetteville, NC enters the 2019 season off a junior year where he ran for 1,198 yards and 15 touchdowns on 206 carries, helping lead Pine Forest to a 10-3 record and into the 4A state quarterfinals. Jones, who is the No. 43 RB in the country and the No. 16 player in the state of North Carolina according to 247Sports, was also a weapon out of the backfield, as well, catching 18 passes for 307 yards and five touchdowns. As a sophomore, Jones carried the ball 60 times for 250 yards and one touchdown in ten games.
Jones will help to counteract the physical running style of longtime Tar Heel 2020 commit Elijah Burris. While Jones does some power run elements in his running style, his speed allows him to be the perfect change-of-pace that the staff wanted to add in this class. He is a quick accelerator, allowing him to hit the necessary gaps quickly and his straight line speed gives him the ability to pull away from defenders in the open field. The most polished aspect of Jones’ game might be his ball carrier-vision, which could help him find a role early.
With Jones commitment, the Tar Heels 2020 class jumps from 17th to 16th overall in the 247Sports Composite rankings. The commitment also jumps the Heels ahead of Florida State and back into 3rd in the ACC rankings.