Maurice Jones-Drew

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Maurice Jones-Drew
Date of birth	April 23, 1985 (age 21)
Place of birth	Antioch, California
Position(s)	Running back
College	UCLA
NFL Draft	2006 / Round 2 / Pick 60
Honors	2005 All-Pac 10 Team
Records	*NCAA Season Record Punt Return Avg. Jacksonville Jaguars all-purpose yards in a single game
Statistics	Pro Football Reference CBS.com
Team(s)
2006–present	Jacksonville Jaguars

Maurice Christopher Jones-Drew (born March 23, 1985 in Antioch, California) is a current American Football running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was drafted in the second round (60th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. Drew graduated from national football powerhouse De La Salle High School (Concord, California) and played three years of college football at UCLA before declaring himself eligible for the NFL draft after his Junior year.

In Madden 2007, Drew is misnamed as Maurice Drew-Jones, although this error is changed in later roster updates.

Contents 1 Personal 2 High School Career 3 Collegiate career 4 NFL Career

[edit] Personal

Born Maurice Drew to Andrea and Dana Drew, Maurice was raised by his grandparents, Christina Jones and Maurice Jones. During his junior year at UCLA, Jones-Drew's grandfather died of a heart attack while watching him play against Rice University. To honor his late grandfather, Jones-Drew changed his name from Drew to its current form. One common nickname for Jones-Drew is "MoJo," combining the abbreviations of his first and last names. Other nicknames for him include "The Pinball," "The Pinball Wizard," "Pocket Hercules" (Given by CBS analyst Shannon Sharpe) and "MJD."

[edit] High School Career

Maurice starred at national powerhouse De La Salle. The football teams he played on never lost a single game during his 3-year career. He was an elusive, high-scoring running back and return specialist on offense and a punishing linebacker on defense. Maurice literally somersaulted into the national consciousness on October 6, 2001, when, as a junior, he scored all four of De La Salle's touchdowns (TDs) in a 29-15 nationally-televised victory over Long Beach Poly in the first game that ever matched up the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked high school football teams. On the Spartans' opening drive, Maurice received a short pass in the right flat on third-and-eight from the Poly 25-yard line. He broke a tackle and then sprinted down right sideline before launcing a spectacular forward somersault into the end zone, landing on his feet on the dead run. He was mobbed by his teammates, but also flagged for excessive celebration, so he never did that again. Drew next scored on a 29-yard reception on fourth down in which he ran a circle route out of the backfield down the left sideline and hauled in an over-the-shoulder touch pass at the goal line from quarterback Matt Gutierrez. Drew’s third touchdown came in the second quarter when he burst through the line, shook off two tacklers, before hitting paydirt 17 yards later. Drew’s final score salted away the historic De La Salle victory. It was a similar effort to his third touchdown and came on a 22-yard run with just under 7 minutes remaining. Drew finished with nine carries for 86 yards and three catches for another 79 yards.

During his senior season, Maurice was even better. He rushed for nearly 1,500 yards, averaged nearly 12 yards per carry, and scored 26 touchdowns. He was rated the No. 1 all-purpose back in the nation by rivals.com. He is pictured outrunning a slew of defenders on the cover of the book "When the Game Stands Tall," which chronicles the De La Salle Spartan's all-time-record 151-game winning streak.

Jones-Drew was also an active member on the rowing team, and participating in the filming of the film, Summer Storm, which was filmed in the Jacksonville area.

[edit] Collegiate career

Maurice Jones-Drew played his entire collegiate career at UCLA under head coach Karl Dorrell. Despite being undersized, Jones-Drew led the Bruins in rushing all three years he was on the squad and showed good pass catching ability and big playmaking skills as both a punt and kickoff returner.

In 2005, Maurice set an all-time NCAA single-season record with a 28.5 yards per return average on 15 punt returns, breaking the previous record of 25.9 yards per return held by Bill Blackstock of Tennessee in 1951. His career average of 23.2 yards per punt return ranks second in NCAA history. Jones-Drew also established a number of UCLA records, including the career all-purpose yardage record (4,688 yards). As a sophomore against Washington, Maurice set UCLA's all-time record for yards rushing in a single game (322 yards) and also scored a school-record five touchdowns. On his first carry of the game he burst to the outside and raced 47 yards to tie the game at 7-7. On his second carry, with UCLA trailing 24-7 and 2:30 remaining in the first quarter, he raced 62 yards for another TD. On his fourth carry, a third-and-12 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter, he sped 58 yards for his third TD. In the first quarter alone, he rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns on four attempts. He gave the Bruins the lead for good (27-24) with 4:16 remaining in the first half when he scooted around right end for a 15-yard touchdown. In the third quarter, he broke numerous tackles en route to his school-record fifth touchdown, a 37-yard run on the Bruins' first possession of the half. His total of 322 yards rushing was the 3rd most in the history of the Pac-10 Conference, and his overall performance earned him several National Player of the Week awards. His final year in college, his junior year, he was a consensus first-team All-American as an all-purpose back and a first-team All-Pac 10 selection as a punt returner, ahead of Heisman Trophy-winner Reggie Bush. He was also the first Bruin since Jackie Robinson to lead the country in punt returning. Maurice gave a sign of things to come when, as a freshman, he rushed for 176 yards on only 18 carries against Arizona State, including an 83-yard scamper down the left sideline to the end zone which put UCLA ahead in the game for good in the third quarter. The run was the longest ever by a Bruin true freshman and ranked ninth (tied) overall on the school's list of long runs. His 176-yard day ranks No. 2 on UCLA's all-time list for true freshmen. In his collegiate career, he had 16 touchdowns of 40-plus yards. Named to the Golden Gridiron Team by the WCBGU Athletic Group.

Year	Carry	Yards	Touchdowns	Yards Per Carry	Receptions	Yards	Receiving Touchdowns	Return Yards	Return Touchdowns
2003	135	582	5	4.3	15	104	0	533	2
2004	160	1007	8	6.3	18	262	3	337	1
2005	186	914	13	4.9	31	453	4	496	3

[edit] NFL Career

Maurice Jones-Drew was selected in the 2006 NFL Draft out of UCLA by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2nd round (60th overall). He was drafted to eventually replace Fred Taylor. In the beginning he was used mostly for kick-off returns, but he eventually became the Jaguars' primary third-down back. After a relatively slow start, Jones-Drew suddenly exploded. Against the Colts on December 10, 2006, Jones-Drew set a franchise record with 166 rushing yards and 303 All-Purpose Yards, which included a 93-yard kickoff return for touchdown. He already has broken Jaguars team records by scoring at least one rushing touchdown in eight consecutive games (the previous record was four straight games) and by gaining 2,250 all-purpose yards.

He finished 3rd in the NFL in both kickoff returns (27.7 yd avg) and touchdowns scored (16). One of only two players in the NFL to score at least one TD rushing, receiving, and returning kicks (Reggie Bush was the other). He also led all AFC running backs in scrimmage yards per touch. Narrowly missing 1,000 yards for the season, Jones-Drew's rushing average of 5.7 yds per carry led the NFL and was the highest for an NFL running back since Barry Sanders averaged 6.1 yds per rush in 1997. In addition, he had the third-most all-purpose yards of any rookie in history. He was nominated five different times for NFL Rookie of the Week in 2006. According to one NFL scout, "Maurice Jones-Drew should be rookie of the year. He's got the biggest legs for a shorter guy and way more power than anybody gives him credit for. And he's got outstanding speed. He's just a little dynamo." (Source: The Sporting News, Jan. 8, 2007, edition, p. 33.)

Nevertheless, he finished tied for 2nd in the balloting for Offensive Rookie of the Year (Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans was the winner). He was robbed of the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2006. Experts believe he could be another Joe Morris type running back with short stature but blazing speed. On a more humorous note, Mojo says he likes wearing #32 because it reminds him each and every time he steps on the football field just how many NFL teams bypassed him in the draft because of his height (all of them, in fact).

Year	Carries	Yards	Touchdowns	Yards Per Carry	Receptions	Yards	Receiving Touchdowns	Return Yards	Return Touchdowns
2006	166	941	13	5.7	46	436	2	860	1