Maurice Jones-Drew

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

Early years
Jones-Drew was born in Oakland, California, and graduated from De La Salle High School in Concord, California. De La Salle owns the longest winning streak in high school football history at 151 games. 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. Jones-Drew somersaulted into the national consciousness on October 6, 2001, when, as a junior, he scored all four of De La Salle's touchdowns 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, Jones-Drew 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 the right sideline before launching a spectacular forward somersault into the end zone. 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 junior season, Jones-Drew rushed for nearly 2000 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 Spartans' all-time-record 151-game winning streak.

College career
Jones-Drew attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he played for the UCLA Bruins football team 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. He was the fifth player in Bruins history to lead the team in rushing in three seasons. In 2005, Jones-Drew 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, Jones-Drew 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 (since vacated) Reggie Bush. He was also the first Bruin since Jackie Robinson to lead the country in punt returning. Additionally, Jones-Drew was named second-team All-Pac 10 as a running back. Jones-Drew 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. Jones-Drew led the Bruins in rushing that season, becoming the first true freshman to lead the Bruins in rushing since DeShaun Foster in 1998. He was also named first-team All-Pac 10 as a kick returner by  The Sporting News. In his collegiate career, Jones-Drew had 16 touchdowns of 40-plus yards. He was named to the Golden Gridiron Team by the WCBGU Athletic Group.

2006 NFL Draft
Jones-Drew was selected 60th overall in the 2nd round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars to perhaps eventually replace Fred Taylor. He was passed on by all 32 teams in the draft, most citing his height (which is 5-foot-7) as the reason why he would not succeed in the NFL.

2006 season
In the beginning he was used mostly for kick-off returns, but he eventually became the Jaguars' primary third-down back, behind Fred Taylor. 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). He was also 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 was 1st in the NFL for backs with 100 attempts and was the highest for an NFL running back since Barry Sanders averaged 6.1 yards 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. One NFL scout said, "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." Nevertheless, he finished tied for 2nd in the balloting for Offensive Rookie of the Year (Vince Young of the Tennessee Titans was the winner). Experts believe he could be another Joe Morris type running back with short stature but blazing speed. Jones-Drew 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 1st round of the 2006 NFL Draft because of his height.

2007 season
In his second season in the NFL, Jones-Drew had already proven to be one of the most versatile running backs in the league. At the beginning of the 2007 season, Jones-Drew was considered arguably the best running back from the Class of 2006. Expectations were high, and although the preseason had its ups and downs, such as a dropped pass from Byron Leftwich in a 21–13 win against Green Bay, a high was provided by the 38-yard catch and run from Leftwich in a win against Tampa Bay. Overall Jones-Drew averaged 4.6 yards per carry in the preseason. In his 2007 season debut Jones-Drew's production was just average. During a 10-7 win to the Titans, Jones-Drew had 32 yards on seven carries in a game that produced just 48 rushing yards between Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor combined. Jones-Drew's fumble at the 8 yard line in the 4th quarter was the last scoring opportunity for the Jaguars in that game. Promises that the running game would get better as the season progressed were realized when Jones-Drew celebrated his first touchdown of the year after the fourth game of the season, in a 17-7 win against the Kansas City Chiefs. The following week against the Houston Texans Jones-Drew recorded his first 100-yard rushing game of season, rushing for 125 and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries. He also recorded 4 catches for 59 yards. In week 7 he scored the Jaguars only points in a Monday Night loss against the Indianapolis Colts. In week 10 he reached the 100-yard mark for the second and final time in the season, rushing for 101 yards and a touchdown against the Tennessee Titans. He would score a touchdown in each of the following three weeks. Although his role as a running back was diminished during the 2007 postseason, he still managed to impact the game with his capabilities as a receiver and a return man. In the Wildcard game against Pittsburgh he totaled 198 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns. His first touchdown was a 43-yard pass from David Garrard, his second was a 10-yard run which put the Jaguars up 28-10 in the third quarter. He also returned a kick-off 96 yards to set up the Jaguars' first score of the night, a Fred Taylor 1-yard run. He was named co-MVP of the game together with QB David Garrard. One week later against New England, he rushed for just 19 yards on 6 attempts as the Jaguars lost 31–20. He did manage to catch 6 passes for an additional 49 yards.

2008 season
Three Jaguars offensive linemen were injured by week one of the 2008 NFL season and Jones-Drew was not as explosive as he was in 2007. His first 100 yard rushing game of the season came against the Indianapolis Colts, where the Jaguars won by a score of 23-21 on a last second field goal by kicker Josh Scobee. Teammate Fred Taylor also compiled over 100 yards in the game. Another good performance came in week 10 against the struggling Lions, where Drew posted three touchdowns, all in the first half. On Thursday Night Football in week 16, Jones-Drew was given the opportunity to carry the load with Fred Taylor on injured reserve. The ball was handed to Drew 20 times and with that he gained 91 yards for a 4.6 yards per carry average. He also caught the ball 7 times for 71 yards. In total, Jones-Drew gained 824 yards on 197 attempts, posting a 4.2 yard per carry average. He also gained 12 touchdowns on the ground. Drew was used more in the passing game than his previous seasons and he managed 525 yards on 62 receptions.

2009 season
Jones-Drew had a record-breaking season for the Jaguars. In a 13-30 loss in Tennessee during Week 8, Jones-Drew rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns on only 8 carries, one for 80 yards and another for 79 yards. This performance tied Hall of Famer Barry Sanders' record of rushing for two touchdowns in a single game of 75 yards or more, which was set by Sanders in a Week 7 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on October 12th, 1997. Jones-Drew became the third player to share the record, as San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore, also tied Sanders' record in a Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks during the same season. At seasons end Jones-Drew compiled some nice statistics. He rushed for 1,391 yards on 312 attempts for a 4.5 per carry average and 15 TD's. He was also being one of the big components in the Jaguars passing attack, as he had 53 receptions for 374 yards and a TD. In a recent article by Thomas George, Jones-Drew had been recognized as the most versatile offensive player in the NFL. Jones-Drew was selected as a backup in the Pro Bowl behind Chris Johnson. During the game he rushed for 30 yards and a touchdown on 5 attempts.

2010 season
Jones-Drew played the entire 2010 season with a torn meniscus in his left knee. He became aware of the extent of the injury in training camp, but tried to keep it a secret to prevent opponents from intentionally taking shots at his knee. After the 2010 season, he was named Running Back of the Year by the NFL Alumni Association. Although the Jaguars did not make the playoffs, Jones-Drew drew attention in the postseason with comments he made questioning the severity of an in-game injury to Jay Cutler in the NFC Championship Game.

NFL career statistics
Statistics taken from ESPN.com and NFL.com

Outside of football
He hosts a two-hour radio show on Sirius XM satellite radio titled Runnin' With MJD which focuses on fantasy football talk and strategy.

Personal life
Born to Sidney Gayles and Andrea Drew, Jones-Drew was raised by his grandparents, Maurice and Christina Jones. At the height of his college career, his grandfather died of a heart attack while watching his grandson play at the Rose Bowl against Rice University. Dorrell broke the news to Drew on the sideline during the game, and he ran to the locker room and left to go to the hospital. To honor the man who raised him, he added Jones to his surname, making him “Maurice Jones-Drew.”