UCF Football: WR Jacoby Jones Press Conference ⚔️🏈

Intro what's up y'all hey what's up man all just kind of talk about your journey to UCF why you decided to come here after the spring kind of what that recruitment was like and how the first couple months been here for you like yeah so um making my decision uh I'm a big believer in Christ and uh When You Believe In Christ I feel like you should set your goals high and I always figured that I could play at a higher level so uh me ending up going into the portal uh I wanted to go somewhere big and I felt like that UCF by you know making a transition into the Big 12 and uh coming in I just wanted to make an impact so um uh I feel like God has brought me here you know I prayed on it multiple times so I'm just glad to be On his role in the wide receiver room here uh how have you really embedded yourself into the wide receiver room uh coming in uh in fall uh I think um you know what a lot of guys can see is uh I'm very physical you know I'm a big guy uh I like to you know kind of establish my presence um I you know I feel like a lot of receivers um you know I feel like I'm raising the standard you know by me being physical bringing a new pres to uh into the wide receiver room so I kind of see uh feel like that's the role that I kind of been bringing you talk about the On off the ball play role being physical you know an element of no block no Rock something that's been said here ever since I started covering UCF but um coach Harris mentioned too in the scrimmage that coaches were watching for that off the ball play how much do you feel like the receivers executed that in SC this P Sunday you said the off the ball off the ball play yeah block yeah uh I feel like uh what they've kind of been harping on a lot is uh to strain the block uh and be in front of your guys we have a great uh running back room with uh RJ Harvey Penny boom uh miles Montgomery Johnny so those guys can break it loose at any moment so you know just us making a difference by being on our guy it can turn a 15 yard run into a 80 yard touchdown so that's something that they've been Haring on So You Know by me coming in I feel like I always want to kind of show great effort and when you see other guys you know giving great effort is going to make you try even harder so uh I feel like we did a great job in this scrimmage but we still got a long ways to go you look at that the On the WRs receivers room how would you describe the group that you you have around you I mean it's it's got various levels of talent what what stands out to you a lot of Versatility I mean um a Kobe he's real Shifty X is the same uh me I feel like uh I'm a jack of all trades I'm very big and a lot of guys think that you know I'm just a blocker but you know I can utilize my size I'm very quick and uh Shifty too chy he's very good he's been making plays a lot of 50-50 balls uh Trent he's a technician uh he's a very good rout Runner um so I really feel like you know a lot of guys in the room VAR he's very very fast lightning fast so you know you got to always watch out for him uh so I feel like we have a lot of Versatility and uh there's nothing that we kind of lack in a wide receiver area what was your road Road to recovery to recovery like what was you the injury you suffered last year and how long it kind of take you to get back to 100% physically uh physically um it it took a while it took a while um I would say uh 3 months after I was back uh on the field and you know kind of you know joging and getting some stuff done and kind of later towards the spring I started to get uh routs on there and stuff like that and in the summer it was just kind of getting me back activated into the floor of the game and so uh physically uh it kind of took a while and mentally was probably the biggest thing just kind of trusting myself to be able to put my foot in the ground and to be able to get out of something to be able to go against other people against competition and stuff like that so uh it's been a rough uh Journey but coach Harris uh he's been pushing me and uh I feel like he was one of the biggest factors in helping me kind of get over that mental hump so I'm feel ever grateful I feel like that's why God placed me here because ever since I've been here coach Harris has been pushing me and that's what I wanted I wanted to be somewhere where I'd be strained I'd be pushed to be the best player that I could be so up leg injury is that right yeah I ended up uh having I broke my leg last year but everything is feeling good now I feel feel like Camp has been going great I've been moving good I'm trusting you know uh planning my foot getting in and out of my break so I'm good jacobe KJ Jefferson you're originally from what Northwest Mississippi area so yeah I'm tun Tunica Mississippi yes and KJ Jefferson I think he from Sardis he's from Sardis he's not that far away and you guys are about the same class right yeah so in high school we actually our our schools ended up playing against each other so he went to North Panola and I played at uh Rose for high school in Tonica Mississippi so that was cool I can remember playing him and uh coming out and seeing the offense take field I'm like this is crazy a quarterback that's 63 looked like he was like 230 lb like I haden't seen nothing like it but uh it's been crazy but KJ he's a he's a great guy I kind of that was another reason why I wanted to come in here because uh he's a great leader you know and I've known of him for quite some time since we played against each other so that's been cool so you didn't DK Metcalf really know him personally you just played against him in play yeah I played against you know spoke a couple words every now and then but you know that was something cool that was something I was actually looking forward to coming down here and kind of getting a Mississippi connection going yeah and we talked to him the other day he said they call you DK I guess DK metf who's also from Mississippi right is that kind of where the nickname came from I guess yeah I I guess so uh everybody just see me and they just see a receiver like me like I understand it's kind of uncommon they call me uh DK they call me Deo pretty much any big receiver you can think of they' called me so that's been kind of cool but you know at the same time I kind of want to establish it uh a legacy to the point where people can say oh there goes Jobe you know the same way they see DK and Deo so yeah Jobe what year was that that you fa KJ um 2018 2019 as a matter of fact it was all I think it was each year uh it was each year in my high school uh so each year in high school you played against yeah but I mostly remember here from uh 20 2017 and 2018 those were the years where he just was like like it was crazy like I haven't seen nothing like it still haven't besides him so yeah um you obviously went through the J route how did that help you uh become who you are today yeah so um coach Parker he's actually uh a great friend with uh coach maon and um I kind of want to get him a shout out like coach Parker like his coaching philosophy was he was going to push you he was going to make sure that you was going to be the best uh version of yourself so being in Jo of course you don't have the same resources and you know the same things but you know I thank God for you know making me passionate about the game and uh it allowed me to continue to push myself to be the best version of myself and having faith in him is the main thing cuz you know I prayed I asked God to um you know play in a division one level and he ended up making it happen and when I went to Ohio you know things happened and I ended up coming here so it's just been a blessing but it's definitely helped me because you know I had to really make a lot out of nothing and now I feel like I'm I'm in a position where you know there a lot of resources a lot of people that's willing to help and so uh that's been great but Jo it definitely changed me and made me a better man jacobe obviously you know Finding his fit don't want the highs to get too high lows too low ex just of scrimmage and all of that but turning in two touchdown catches after this journey that we've been talking about with you what were you feeling right then is that kind of a thing that could sub mention being like you felt like you found your fit or just kind of what were the emotions when you were able to turn that in at this point um the initial thought was you know I just wanted to give praise to God um you know as far as going along this uh injury recovery like the mental it was real tough and I questioned myself a lot had a lot of uh doubt you know I had a you know some days that wasn't as great so you know it was it felt real good just knowing that you know I I prayed about these things and and God has been with me and uh that's all I could do you know I was on the sideline I was just telling God giving him the glory cuz you know it's it's honestly you know kind of chilling you know because I did not see myself you know being in this position you know I feel like when I initially made the the move to come here and stuff I was confident and then getting on the field and some things were uncharacteristic but the scrimmage has helped me a great deal to to show me you know that I can still do it that I can still perform at a high level so it's been great did that provide you the way Confidence you're talking like provide you a lot of confidence I guess going into the rest of this Camp going into the season yeah um like I said I feel like it was great you know I've been praying praying on it a lot just saying that you know God I know I'm physiologically my leg is fine and stuff like that and I just hey God you know can you just show me some plays you know I I still got it and I feel like disc scrimmage was big for me because not only in the passing game scoring the touchdowns and stuff like that but I also feel like you know blocking and things like that able to give great effort and stuff like that so that's really what's been keeping me afloat you know the results because you know I honestly still would have felt the same way without the touchdowns because I was able to give him all and I came out of it healthy I came out of it feeling good feeling refreshed in my mind so that's something I'm going to carry out throughout the season and uh continue to keep the momentum going thank you