CLEMSON, S.C.- Sheridan Jones is the next man up at corner for Clemson.
With Andrew Booth Jr. and Mario Goodrich both off to the NFL, Jones is now the veteran of the group.
"It's crazy, just seeing how fast time really goes by," Jones said after a recent practice. "One day I was a freshman and now I'm the oldest in the room. It was crazy. Just hearing coach Swinney really say that the days are long but the years are short, that's really hitting home, this year."
Both Booth and Goodrich were first-team All ACC players a season ago, and Jones learned a lot about leadership playing side by side with both over the past three seasons.
"Definitely (learned) a lot, just being with them every day," Jones said. "Making sure we always get extra work and just getting back to really like having fun. Like football is a serious sport but at the end of the day, we're still out here playing football. Just getting back to having fun out, making plays and always keeping an edge."
Jones came to Clemson as a highly-touted prospect in the 2019 recruiting class and the former blue-chip recruit has admittedly always been a lead-by-example type of player. However, being the elder statesmen in the cornerback room, Jones is now working on being more vocal.
"I've always been kind of a lead by example guy," Jones said. "So I'm always trying to extra work, get those guys in the film room and things like that. I know one thing I wanted to work on was being more vocal. So I'm trying to make sure I open up and tell them, 'Do this, make sure you don't do that.' Just basically putting them under my wing and putting everybody in the best position possible to be successful."
Over his three-year career, Jones has often flashed signs of his potential, and his junior season was his best to date. Despite not being a starter, he was hard to keep off the field, as Jones logged more than 400 snaps and was a key piece on the backend of the Clemson defense, picking off one pass and breaking up four more.
That best season came after a sophomore year in which head coach Dabo Swinney thought Jones lost a little bit of his confidence. However, Swinney has said he's seen a different player in Jones this season, and the senior cornerback said much of that has to do with the fact that he's no longer listening to the outside noise and is committed to playing loose and having fun.
"I just had to get back to really being me," Jones said. "You know, I mean, having fun back on the field and just making plays and honestly just worried about myself not worrying about what anybody else is saying. Coaches, fans, players, anyone. Just being me, worrying about myself and just having fun with it."
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