TENNESSEE PURSUING SON OF FORMER OKLAHOMA RB WHO CONSIDERED SIGNING WITH VOLS AS A RECRUIT

The Tennessee Vols are one of several programs pursuing 2026 four-star running back Kaydin Jones.

Jones, 6-foot/170 lbs form Jenks, OK, is rated by On3 as the No. 10 running back in the 2026 recruiting class and the No. 1 player in the state of Oklahoma.

The talented running back recently visited Tennessee, but the Sooners are considered the favorites in this recruiting battle because Jones' father, Kejuan, played at Oklahoma from 2001 to 2005.

Interestingly, Kejuan signed with Oklahoma over Tennessee in the early 2000s. And one reason for that decision was because the Sooners were losing starting quarterback Josh Heupel, currently UT's head coach, after the 2000 season.

"OU is losing its dominant force on offense in Josh Heupel," said Kejuan to The Tulsa World in late 2000. "Tennessee and TCU are losing their top running backs. They both run the ball a lot but I just felt OU was a good fit."

Kejuan eventually lamented his decision to stick around at Oklahoma for the 2004 and 2005 seasons, even blaming the Sooners' coaches for his NFL draft stock falling.

(Note: Heupel was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma in 2004 before joining Arizona's staff in 2005. He returned to Oklahoma as the Sooners' quarterbacks coach in 2006.)

The elder Jones lost carries to future NFL superstar Adrian Peterson during his final two seasons at Oklahoma.

"I just feel they (OU coaches) didn't utilize me as well as they should have," Jones said. "Look at the Reggie Bush-LenDale White situation."

From The Tulsa World: Jones said his OU frustrations started at the end of his redshirt sophomore season, when OU played LSU in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship. Trailing 21-14 in the fourth quarter, OU mounted a drive when Jones ripped off runs of 9, 8, 4 and 5 yards. Then, inexplicably, offensive coordinator Chuck Long called 10 consecutive pass plays, which gained a net 7 yards. On the ninth pass, quarterback Jason White badly overthrew Jones, who was wide open in the end zone.
"Why did we even start throwing the ball when I was getting 8 or 9 yards a pop?" asked Jones. "The whole (LSU) defense was dead tired. But we tried to go another way and throw the ball, and that's the reason why we lost the national championship."
Jones said Long, who left OU after last season for the head coaching job at San Diego State, acknowledged that he had second thoughts about his play calling after the loss.
"Coach Long came up to me when we were getting on the bus and said, 'It's my fault. I should have kept giving you the ball,' " Jones recalled.
Jones said he was born an OU fan and remains proud he's a Sooner. But he wonders what might have happened had he gone to one of the other schools on his final list, which included Tennessee, Alabama and TCU.

Kejuan has noted numerous times over the years that he's still a die-hard Sooners fan, so it's doubtful that his annoyance with how he was used during his final years at Oklahoma will impact his son's recruitment.

However, it's likely that getting to the NFL will be something that Kejuan stresses as important to Kaydin. And Kejuan could caution Kaydin against making a decision based solely on fandom or proximity to home. Maybe they'll look at Jaylen Wright's ascent at Tennessee under Heupel and give the Vols a longer look.

2024-04-19T18:39:50Z dg43tfdfdgfd