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Wednesday, December x, aoio | The Red * Black
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▲ Head coach Andy Landers said Southern Miss will be among the quickest teams the Lady
Dogs have faced this season, but seems comfortable with his youthful team's early s*l record.
SHOT: Southern Miss to ‘challenge’ young squad
► From Pago I
accurate, and our outside shooters,
on any given night it seems, we have
one or two of those that shoot the
ball pretty well.”
The Lady Bulldogs will look to
keep their hot shooting streak going
against Southern Mississippi
tonight.
“They are an extremely quick
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basketball team, one that transi
tions very well,” Landers said of the
Lady Golden Eagles. “They get the
ball down the floor as quickly as
anyone that we’ve played to date.
They love to attack you with the
dribble, so they’ll be a challenge for
us defensively in that regard.”
Regardless of what challenges
pop up for the Lady Bulldogs the
rest of the season, Landers said he
SPORTS
is happy to see the team getting
better each and every time that it
takes to the court.
“I’m pleased we’ve taken advan
tage of the opportunities we’ve had
to get better,” he said. “I see
improvement in our basketball team
from game to game, and when you
have a basketball team that has
only one Junior and one senior, that’s
exactly what you want to see.”
Neck injuty
brings transfer
to Dogs’ roster
By NICK PARKIN
The Rid A Black
Georgia may not have
been Jarvis Jones’ choice
out of high school, but he's
glad to be In Athens now.
Jones, a redshlrt fresh
man linebacker, transferred
to Georgia In the spring
from the University of
Southern California,
where he signed out
of Carver High
School in Columbus
as the No. 3 player in
Georgia in the 2009
class.
Jones suffered an
injury to his C 5 nerve,
a nerve In the neck,
four games Into his
freshman season.
That Injury was even-
tually deemed a career
ending one by team doc
tors for the Trojans.
It was a puzzling situa
tion for Jones, who had
been told Initially the inju
ry would only sideline him
for the remainder of the
season.
Not Indefinitely.
“It was difficult for me
because I thought I was
healthy,” Jones said. “When
it first happened, I got
cleared by the doctors, and
he told me I was healthy. I
Just needed to sit out the
rest of the season.”
But after anew head
coach took over the USC
program, Jones’ diagnosis
changed.
Once former USC head
coach Pete CarrolUeft for
the NTUs Seattle Seahawks
and Lane Klffln took over
the Trojan football pro
gram, the team doctors
quickly reversed their time,
saying that It was a career
ending injury.
But Jones, determined
not to let that be the end
of his playing
career, sought sec
ond opinions from
several doctors.
Jones’ mother
sent the Images of
his back to area
doctors, who all
agreed he could, in
fact, return to the
playing field.
Georgia's team
doctors agreed
when Jones made his offi
cial visit to Athens—where
he would eventually com
mit.
“I'm from the state of
Georgia. And I just looked
at It when I left ÜBC, I was
like If I go play anywhere I
want to go home, play In
front of the people that I
know care about me and
will take care of me," Jones
said. “I’m closer to home
and closer to my family. I
just loved Georgia football
I know It wasn’t my deci
sion out of high school but
over time things change
and It did,”
And regardless of loca
tion, Jones Is appreciative
of the mere chance to play
football again.
“I was like, 'I do have a
chance. Somebody else
sees It differently.’ And
that’s when I started look
ing around at other doc
tors and getting different
opinions,” Jones said. “So I
got my release and I came
here and they took very
good care of me and saw
that I had everything I
needed and that I was
healthy. I was very healthy
and I passed all my tests.”
Jones decided to red
shirt this season, though,
to give the injured nerve
time to recuperate and
also to learn the Bulldogs’
system, forming a scout
team linebacker tandem
with Richard Samuel that
head coach Mark Richt
called “the best” he’d ever
seen.
“I’m healthy. I’m 100
percent healthy now. I’m
doing everything, practic
ing, going hard every day,
lifting weights, training,
just having fun right now,”
Jones said. “So I’ve done
put that behind me, all the
jitter bugs that I had. I was
pretty scared. I thought I
was done, but I’ve done
put that behind me. So
now I’m just back to hav
ing fun and playing foot
ball something I love to
do.”
And part of what Jones
loves about football is the
physical nature that took
him little time getting back
to.
Jones took on the
chance to get back on the
Held with great enthusi
asm, albeit a bit too fast
for the Georgia coaching
staff, who preferred to
slowly work Jones back
into tackling to avoid any
lingering effects of the inju
ry.
He didn’t heed their
advice, though. The first
opportunity he got to hit
someone early in fall prac
tice, he seized the chance,
hitting running back
Carlton Thomas.
“The first time I got a
chance to play in camp, I
hit somebody. It was really
day one,” Jones said. “I
just wanted to see where I
was. I knew I was healthy
but so many people were
telling me different things,
but I knew I was healthy
from day one. So the first
chance I got In camp, I did.
I got in trouble, [the coach
es] wouldn’t let me hit.
They put me in a green Jer
sey."
He has since been taken
out of a green, non-contact
jersey, as the coaching staff
has seen him improve and
Is working at outside line
backer In defensive coordi
nator Todd Grantham’s 3-4
scheme. However, during
his time on the scout team,
Jones has played “wherev
er the dominating line
backer” Is for the upcom
ing opponent.
And If his scout team
play offers any Indication,
Jones is sure to have a big
effect for Georgia next sea
son after a twisted road
home.