COLUMN: Rasean Jones' talent is immense, but character will be his ultimate legacy

I watched Rasean Jones score a couple dozen touchdowns during the three years he donned a Baker Bulldog uniform, but the two I remember most vividly shouldn't have happened. It was Sept. 20, 2024. Jones was a junior, and the Bulldogs were in Vale to play the perennial Class 3A power Vikings. I was a couple hundred miles away, at my parents' house in Mill City. We watched the game live on the NFHS network. Jones had returned one kickoff for a touchdown earlier in the season, and I wondered whether Vale would either use a pooch kick — booting the ball high, like a punt — or even kick the ball out of bounds. Either option would guarantee Baker decent field position. But both would deprive Jones of the chance to run through, and past, the coverage team for six points. This was not the certain result, to be sure. But Jones' combination of strength, balance and speed was so potent, on a high school field, that it seemed to me the most reasonable option was to limit Jones to catching passes rather than also fielding kicks. Kickoffs were especially dangerous because they gave Jones a chance to build momentum — a situation that as a coach I would want to avoid at almost any cost, as Jones' momentum is not like other players' momentum — and to survey the entire field rather than have to run a pass route, secure the ball and only then start looking for gaps in the defense. I was a trifle surprised, then, when Vale kicked deep to Jones to start the game. I was not at all surprised when Jones shrugged off a couple would-be tacklers with little more effort, it seemed to me, than if he were brushing blades of grass from his jersey. Only the Viking kicker, by grabbing Jones' foot and holding on as an angler does with a powerful and slippery fish, prevented the touchdown. Jones did make it to midfield. After Vale scored to lead 8-0, I thought there was little chance the kicker would, in effect, hand Jones the ball a second time and put the Vikings' coverage team in a position analogous to a lion tamer who props open the door of the cage. But the kick went deep. Jones caught the ball at the Baker 10. Ninety yards later — a distance Jones covered in little more time than it takes to read this sentence — he was handing the ball to the referee and the Vale lead was 8-6. The Vikings led 16-13 at halftime. And only a penalty — in many cases the only effective way to defend Jones — kept the Bulldogs from going into the locker room with the lead. Late in the first half, Jones caught a screen pass — a situation similar to a kickoff return — and he bounced off two defenders and sprinted into the end zone. A holding penalty negated the touchdown, but no additional evidence was needed that Vale should, to the extent possible, strive to deny Jones the ball. But no. After Vale scored in the third quarter to extend its lead to 24-13, the kicker, to my amazement as I watched the grainy video from NFHS, yet again sent the bail flying toward Jones. The only difference, and a slight one at that, was Jones covered 86 yards instead of 90. Baker didn't score another point. It is no coincidence that Vale, despite scoring three more touchdowns, never kicked again to Jones. A week later, when Baker played at Cascade, the Cougar coaches, apparently having not only watched the Vale game but understood its essence, ordered their kicker, in what I can only imagine was an edict issued with absolute solemnity of a papal bull, to make sure Jones didn't catch a kickoff. Cascade won 48-6. (Jones did account for Baker's only points, on a 9-yard catch from Jake McClaughry on fourth and goal.) After watching a succession of defenders watch Jones run past them, in the manner of hapless passengers who showed up just late at a bus stop, I was curious to see his college debut as a true freshman wide receiver for Boise State. The Broncos opened their season on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Eugene's Autzen Stadium against the second-ranked Ducks, a team with national championship aspirations. Jones was in the starting lineup, so I assumed his dominance in high school could not be attributed solely to the level of competition. After the Broncos' 34-27 loss — a game in which they led by as many as 10 points, in the first half — I no longer had to assume. Jones caught the first pass of the season from BSU quarterback Maddux Madsen, and he did so not by overwhelming defenders with his athleticism, as was the case in high school. Instead, Jones ran a perfect route, sliding into an open slot in the Oregon secondary like a wily veteran, giving Madsen an easy target on a key third-down play. Jones' 23-yard reception kept alive a drive that ended in a touchdown and a 7-0 BSU lead. Jones led the Broncos with 76 receiving yards on four catches. By far his most impressive play was late in the game when he outdueled Oregon's All-American cornerback, Brandon Finney Jr. on the sideline. Jones, with Finney draped on him, reached back and snagged Madsen's pass with his left hand, pulling the ball to his chest as he fell to the ground on the Oregon sideline for an 18-yard gain and a first down. Although they were playing together for the first time, it seemed to me that Madsen and Jones already have the sort of chemistry that quarterbacks crave. The senior quarterback threw 10 passes to Jones, more than a third of the 29 attempts. I'm intrigued to watch Jones the rest of this season and in years to come. It is, to be sure, premature — and, frankly, unfair to Jones — to start plotting his NFL career after a single college game. But it's also just plain fun to contemplate. There can be little doubt that Jones has the physical attributes to play at the highest level. At 6-foot-2 he's taller than many NFL receivers. He's certainly fast and agile enough, having won six Class 4A state championships in hurdles at BHS. NFL wide receivers need savvy as well as speed and strength. But I was impressed by Jones' route running as much as anything else. I knew he wouldn't be able to run over and past top college defenders with the ease he showed in high school. But his ability to get open — which is why Madsen threw more passes to Jones than any other receiver — could, if he can do so consistently, might elevate him above players with comparable physical gifts. I find it gratifying to root for Rasean. I interviewed him several times about his athletic accomplishments at Baker, and he was without exception polite, helpful and humble. These laudable attributes apply equally well to his parents, Jebron and Amy, and to his older brother, Isaiah, who is also a college athlete. Isaiah was a key player as a freshman on the Eastern Oregon University basketball team last winter. Rasean's career trajectory can't be known. But about one thing I'm certain. Wherever he plays, and no matter how impressive the statistics he accrues, Rasean will represent his team, his family and his hometown with class. Which is a legacy far more important, and more venerable, than touchdowns.