Please Pass Tributes : Nebraska Running Back Calvin Jones Coming on Strong, but Freshman Has a History of Sharing the Compliments

If bashful Calvin Jones had his way, the most prized and fabled position in the Nebraska offense would be called anything but I-back.

We-back, Us-back, All-for-one-and-one-for-all-back . . . that’s more what Jones, a redshirt freshman who made Big Eight Conference history this season by leading the league in scoring--to say nothing of leading Nebraska to the Orange Bowl--would like to see. The way Jones figures it, the I in I-back is silent.

“I didn’t do anything,” Jones said. “The other 10 guys on the field did it, especially the linemen. All the awards I’ve gotten this year, I’d gladly give them away to the linemen. They’re the ones who are fighting down in the trenches.”

Jones can’t be serious about this mush, can he? After all, wasn’t it Jones who gained 900 yards, scored 14 touchdowns and averaged 8.3 yards a carry? And consider this: He rushed for 533 of those yards and nine of those touchdowns in the final three games of the season.

In one of those games, Jones scorched Kansas for six touchdowns and a school-record 294 yards. The befuddled Jayhawks are still mumbling in amazement.

“What people don’t realize is that even with that day, we finished third in the Big Eight in total defense,” Kansas Coach Glen Mason said. “Without that day, we probably would have finished second or first.”

And against archrival Oklahoma, in the bitter cold and rain of a November afternoon at Lincoln, Jones accounted for 78 of the 80 yards the Cornhuskers needed in a game-winning, fourth-quarter scoring drive. His four-yard gain on fourth and one at the Sooner 19 kept the drive alive. A play later, his 15-yard run into the end zone ended it.

Jones still marvels at the memory of that final drive. He can remember that his hands felt frozen as the winds swept through Memorial Stadium. He can remember the taunting of the Sooner defenders. But most of all, before the fourth-and-one situation, he can recall the Cornhusker offense walking toward the sideline, where Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne stood. Nebraska trailed, 14-13, with less than three minutes remaining.

“What do you want to do: Kick or go for it?” Osborne said, knowing a field goal and a 16-14 lead might not be enough.

“Go for it,” he was told.

“OK, this is what we’re going to do,” Osborne said, as he decided on “49 Pitch,” a play designed for the I-back to take a pitch and run around the left end.

Jones, scared stiff, tried to hide his anxiety.

“I was listening to the play and I’m going, ‘Oh, man. Here I am. I’ve got to try to make this thing work,’ ” he said. “I saw our season flashing before us.”

Not to worry. Jones bulled his way to the first down. Then, with 2:37 left, he quieted the Sooners with the scoring run.

“Their defense has always been an aggressive group,” Jones said. “They were talking, but, you know, talking doesn’t get the job done. When you get down in a three-point stance, snap the ball, that does the talking for you.”

In no time at all, Jones became the most talked-about Nebraska topic since the new John Deeres arrived. This from a guy who doesn’t even start--Servite High’s Derek Brown does--and who acts as if his success was accidental, a stroke of luck.

Ask Jones about his high school career and you would think only two schools had recruited him: Nebraska and Nevada Las Vegas. In truth, Jones was the most sought-after Nebraska high school star in years. Every recruiter wanted him and why not? He set a state record for most yards gained in a game, 367; in a season, 2,196, and in a career, 3,965.

“I knew about him coming out of high school,” Mason said. “I knew of his ability. Thing is, only a school like Nebraska has the ability to have Calvin Jones as a second-teamer.”

Yet, Jones wasn’t comfortable with publicity. Raised by his grandmother, quiet and earnest, Jones preferred to direct most of the attention elsewhere. For instance, on the evening he rushed for 367 yards, Jones, a senior at the time, told Stu Pospisil of the Omaha World Herald: “Our line was excellent tonight, and I want to thank them and the coaching staff for giving me a chance to run.”

Pospisil wanted a postgame quote that night. Instead, he got a response so polite and sensitive that it belonged on a Hallmark card.

But Jones was serious. A year earlier he had been a starting linebacker and third-string running back at Omaha Central, where NFL Hall of Famer Gale Sayers and former Nebraska stars Leodis Flowers and Keith Jones once played. That’s before Central Coach William Reed, his backfield thinned by injuries, was forced to insert Jones into the lineup.

“There was a thunderstorm that night,” Pospisil said. “The field’s a mess. Jones goes out in the mud and rushes for 245 yards and two touchdowns. Central wins, 15-12.”

By the time he left Central, Jones was considered a state treasure of sorts. He was named honorary captain of the all-state team. He was elected homecoming king. He was at or near the top of recruiting lists.

If Jones enjoyed the attention, he didn’t show it. He said he was too scared to go to parties. Anyway, he would rather stay home with his grandma.

As for school, Jones had different tastes. One of his favorite subjects? Latin. These days, most high school kids don’t even know it’s a language. Jones did, enough so that he became co-president of Central’s Latin Club.

“He’s just kind of a special person,” Pospisil said.

To prove the point, Jones, a budding labor specialist, has established a modest incentive program for his Cornhusker offensive linemen. Call it, “Blocks for Burgers.”

It works like this: For every “pancake block,” a block that flattens a defender, Jones will reward an offensive lineman with a Whopper. It isn’t much, but when your wallet is as thin as an empty file folder--as Jones’ is--it will have to do.

At last look, Cornhusker guard Erik Wiegert is atop the burger list. Jones can only glance at his wallet and wince.

“Oh, man, I think it’s in double figures now,” said Jones of Wiegert’s Whopper totals. “I’ll have to take care of him.”

Jones would also like to do something for Brown, who complained not one bit when the Nebraska coaching staff began trimming his playing time. By season’s end, a system had been worked out. Brown would start, play in the first period, get replaced by Jones in the second quarter, return to the lineup in the third period and give way to Jones in the fourth quarter.

“With the two guys splitting it up, we’re probably a little stronger football team,” Osborne said.

Brown and Jones combined for 2,213 yards, which makes them the most productive pair of Cornhusker I-backs since Mike Rozier and Jeff Smith shared time in 1983. Still, in typical Jones fashion, he credits everyone but himself.

“Even if I gained 3,000 yards this year, Derek still should be there because he earned it,” Jones said. “He goes the extra mile.”

Modesty becomes Jones. In fact, if his linemen had any consciences at all, they would do more than block for Mr. Thank You. They would buy Jones a burger and think of it as an investment in the future: a meal for a meal ticket.