The Class of 2016's Trendsetting Two-Sport Star

It was in the end of his second grade year when Tony Jones Jr. reached a crossroads in his life.

He was already on the path to follow in the footsteps of his father Tony Sr.—who was a standout athlete who played eight years of professional football.

However, he wasn’t as stimulated in the classroom as he was when he was out hitting home runs and scoring touchdowns as a rising two-sport athlete. 

At the time, Tony Sr. was coaching his son in both baseball and football when he received a call from one of his son’s teachers. She told him that she was afraid that he wouldn’t pass the FCAT to advance to third grade because of his lack of motivation.

The teacher knew that Tony Sr. coached his son, so she asked him what he did to motivate his son athletically.

At that point, he took Tony Jr. outside to talk. Though his son feared a scolding, he was instead taught an invaluable lesson that would shape his life moving forward.

Knowing that his son was extremely competitive as a standout young athlete, Tony Sr. asked him why he failed to compete in the classroom. 

“My message was, yeah, you can win in here too,” Tony Sr. told Bleacher Report. “You can be the first one to get an A. You can be the first one to finish an assignment. You can be the first one to answer a question. If you are going to be competitive, be competitive all-around at everything you do.’”

That one moment of dialogue between father and son sparked a complete transformation in young Tony’s habits in the classroom.

“Since then, my kid has made honor roll every semester since that conversation,” Tony Sr. proudly exclaimed. 

Almost a decade later, Tony Jr. is the first student-athlete to ever play both baseball and football at the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

He doubles as a star outfielder—who hit .359 this season for the Ascenders in baseball—and as the leading rusher on a loaded football squad that finished 9-1 and ranked No. 21 in the MaxPreps Top 25 poll.

As his achievements keep piling up in both sports, he’s still continued to get it done in the classroom. But does he plan to follow in the footsteps of noted two-sport standouts such as Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders and Jameis Winston?

Credit: Tony Jones Sr.

After their son spent the first two years of his prep career at Catholic High School in nearby St. Petersburg, Tony's parents (Tony Sr. and Natalie) made the decision to enroll Tony Jr. at IMG.

Despite Tony Jr. rushing for more than 1,000 yards in both his freshman and sophomore seasons, Tony Sr. felt that his son needed to go to a place where he had stiff competition for playing time.

“I want him to feel that pressure just like he would when he gets to college,” Tony Sr. said.

However, there was still a matter of convincing the coaches at IMG—a school that has never had an athlete play both football and baseball—to let him play two sports.

“When I first came here to visit, my mom told me to make sure to tell them (about playing two sports) the first time I saw them,” Tony Jr. said.

In January, a meeting was arranged with Tony Jr., his parents, IMG administrators and the coaches of the football and baseball programs.

Given the unique circumstances surrounding his arrival to the program, he was dealt a lucky stroke of good fortune in his quest to play two sports.

Credit: Tony Jones Sr.

IMG head coach Chris Weinke—the former Heisman Trophy–winning quarterback at Florida State who spent six years playing minor league baseball before arriving in Tallahassee for college—is one of the few coaches who can understand Tony’s plight.

“I think very few guys get the opportunity to play two sports,” Weinke said. “He has the ability to be able to play two sports. My only advice to him is to have fun doing it. I’m a firm believer that you have to enjoy playing the game. The more you enjoy it, the harder you are going to work.”

Weinke knows the grind of trying to succeed in two sports, especially at a school such as IMG that has traditionally focused on training and developing athletes in one sport in the past. 

“It hasn’t necessarily been done in the past here, but that’s OK,” Weinke said. “When the rare student-athlete comes along [who] can do both, we encourage it here, actually. We just haven’t necessarily had guys that wanted to do it here in the past.”

That doesn’t mean it’s something that comes easily. Weinke has praised Tony Jr. as “one of the hardest workers on the team.” A quick glance at his daily routine in football is proof of his proclamation. 

Event	Start	End
Wake Up	5:30 A.M.	N/A
Football Lift	6:00 A.M.	7:00 A.M.
School	7:30 A.M.	11:30 A.M.
Meeting With Academic Adviser	11:45 A.M.	12:30 P.M.
Lunch	12:45 P.M.	1:15 P.M.
Treatment	1:30 P.M.	2:00 P.M.
Film Study	2:15 P.M.	3:00 P.M.
Practice	3:00 P.M.	5:30 P.M.
Study Hall	7:30 P.M.	9:00 P.M.

The only change in his schedule comes during baseball season, when Tony will join the baseball team after lunch—which means that his level of dedication to two sports takes a lot of sacrifice and commitment. 

After receiving the blessing from the baseball and football coaches, Tony Jr. was on the diamond a week later, preparing to play with one of the top programs in the state of Florida.

However, his father admits that Tony Jr. was initially met with a bit of skepticism.

“It’s funny because the baseball team is like, ‘OK, here’s this football player trying to play baseball.’” Tony Sr. said. “He got up to hit the ball for the first time, and the coach was like, ‘whoa!’”

The coaches couldn’t even believe how natural Tony Jr. was at first. However, because IMG featured a senior-laden roster this year, the newcomer found himself at the bottom of the lineup.

That was all the motivation Tony Jr. needed to make an instant impact. According to Tony Sr., he ascended in the lineup, hitting anywhere from leadoff to the fifth spot by the eighth game of the season. 

With baseball ending at the beginning of April, Tony Jr. jumped into spring football practice two weeks later.

From Weinke’s perspective, he’s a natural born football player.

“Obviously, football bloodlines are in his family,” Weinke said. “His dad played. Tony just brings a nastiness and a toughness to the position that is hard to teach. From a skill-set perspective, physically, he’s very strong. In my opinion, he has great vision and great instincts.”

At 6’0”, 207-pounds, he’s become the hammer and the leader of IMG’s three-headed monster in the backfield. According to MaxPreps, he’s rushed for 771 yards and 12 touchdowns while averaging more than 11 yards per carry for the Ascenders. 

Weinke notes that Jones is fully capable of being a workhorse back on the college level.

“He’s probably not getting as much carries as he would in your typical high-school program, because we have three good backs in Tony, Jack Wegher and Taven Birdow,” Weinke said. “We have a three-headed horse. But he’s a guy [who] can handle 30 carries a game.”

"

Just received an offer from the University of South Carolina #GoGamecocks pic.twitter.com/oNb7R5Y6TX

— Tony T. Jones (@Tonnjoness) October 30, 2014"

In football, Tony Jr. has already earned offers from Central Florida, Cincinnati, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and South Florida, and he has plans to visit Georgia this weekend for their game against Auburn. 

Of that group, Tony Jr. mentioned that he’s discussed the possibility of playing both sports with the coaching staffs from Cincinnati, Florida and South Florida.

While he’s yet to make a definitive choice on playing both sports in college, for now, he’s focused on having fun and enjoying playing both sports at a high level. 

Regardless of which sport he chooses, his future in athletics and in the classroom is as bright as any prospect in the 2016 class.

Considering that his current head coach was once in his shoes and achieved great feats in both sports, earning his stamp of approval gives Tony Jr. the confidence necessary to continue on a path in which few athletes have found success. 

“I’m sure he’s looking forward to finishing up strong and then going into spring and playing baseball,” Weinke said. “He’s been outstanding for us. We think he’s going to finish strong and then have a huge 2015. He’s a premier player and one of the best backs in the country.”

Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand and all recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Follow @SanjayKirpalani