{"id":18368,"date":"2015-10-21T13:41:36","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T18:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=18368"},"modified":"2015-10-21T13:41:36","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T18:41:36","slug":"college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/","title":{"rendered":"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maddie Lee<\/p>\n

Naquan Jones\u2019 mom wouldn\u2019t stand for it anymore. She snatched his phone from his hands. Homework first. Jones could talk to college coaches later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so attached to it, with coaches calling and messaging [me],\u201d he said. \u201cIt took me away from my school work a little bit, and even having a social life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The end of the recruitment frenzy allows Jones, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle for Evanston Township High School, and teammate Matt Little, a 6-4, 230-pound quarterback, to approach the rest their senior year like regular high school athletes. They have verbally committed\u2014Jones to Michigan State and Little to Western Michigan\u2014and plan on signing their letters of intent in early February.<\/p>\n

Together, Jones (No. 2) and Little (No. 26) made Evanston the only Chicago-area school in Illinois with two top-30 recruits in the senior class, according to 247Sports composite ratings. Separately, when they talk about the current stage in the recruiting process, each mentioned first his relief that the chaos is over.
\n<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/a>
Matt Little (left) and Naquan Jones (right) soak in their last season at Evanston Township, while looking forward to their college years playing at Western Michigan and Michigan State respectively. (Brooke Rayford\/Medill)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBeing able to focus with my team more, and about high school football, that\u2019s probably the best thing that\u2019s happened,\u201d Little said. \u201cBecause last year was rough.\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughed, thinking back to the daily phone calls and messages on social media.<\/p>\n

Evanston coach Mike Burzawa estimated that Jones, Little and a third top-50 Illinois recruit, wide receiver-defensive back Travion Banks, helped lure three times as many recruiters to the high school than usual in the fall.<\/p>\n

Spring recruiting, Burzawa said, was \u201cout of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

A total of 75 to100 colleges came, according to Burzawa. He couldn\u2019t keep up with all the phone calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaquan was a national recruit, so he brought in schools that literally have never been in the doors of Evanston,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jones said he personally received four or five calls from coaches a day last year. If he tweeted about an offer, that number would increase to nine or 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re both big-time players,\u201d said Tom Lemming, longtime college football recruiting expert and host of the \u201cLemming Report\u201d on CBS Sports Network. \u201cI think Little just improves with every game, and Naquan has the physical skills to stand out at Michigan State if the work ethic will be there once he gets to college, both athletically and academically.\u201d<\/p>\n

[vimeo 143165729 w=1000 h=150]<\/p>\n
Jones and Little have been friends for more than a decade both on and off the field. For more coverage of Jones’ decision-making process, watch Brooke Rayford’s video<\/a>. (Brooke Rayford\/Medill)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Jones said he is already working on both areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to play as well as you can so [your college] coaches don\u2019t have any reason to doubt you or take your scholarship [away],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While Jones said he still gets one to two calls per week from coaches, the decrease has allowed him to dedicate more time to studying. Last year, he said, his grades\u00a0slipped into the C or C-minus range. Now, he said, he has all A\u2019s and B\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Little is taking a full schedule this semester \u2014 including two honors English classes \u2014 so he can graduate early, leave for Western Michigan in January, and start learning the playbook, he said.<\/p>\n

Lemming said he has seen high school seniors act in one of two ways after committing to colleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome kids feel like they are already in college and sort of take it easy,\u201d he said. \u201cI see that all the time. And then other kids get more motivated by the offer and commitment and want to prove [to] everybody that they are the great player that people say they are.\u201d
\n[field name=”recruitment map”]<\/p>\n

A total of 27 schools showed interest in Naquan Jones and\/or Matt Little, according to 247Sports. Click to see which colleges. (247Sports<\/a>, Maddie Lee\/Medill)<\/div>\n

Jones and Little developed into top prospects side by side; they played football together for the first time in Peewees. They went to the same elementary school and have been friends ever since.<\/p>\n

When it came time to pick colleges, they could lean on each other for advice, according to Little, asking, \u201cIs this a good fit for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could be really upfront and honest with each other,\u201d Little said.<\/p>\n

Little was the first to commit. He chose Western Michigan in November, he said, before anybody else had shown interest in him. A dozen did, according to 247Sports. Jones announced his commitment to Michigan State seven months later.<\/p>\n

\n

What\u2019s at stake on Friday:<\/h1>\n

With Evanston Township and New Trier tied for second in the Central Suburban South Conference, their games Friday will determine Evanston\u2019s chances at a playoff berth.<\/p>\n

Win-Win<\/h3>\n

If both Evanston and New Trier win, there is a three-way tie for the conference winner. The team that allowed their co-champions the fewest points advances into playoffs.<\/p>\n

Win-Lose<\/h3>\n

If Evanston wins and New Trier loses this weekend, Evanston and Maine South will be co-champions. The playoff birth tie-breaker will go to Evanston.<\/p>\n

Lose-Win<\/h3>\n

If Evanston loses, Maine South will be the undefeated conference champion.<\/p>\n

Lose-Lose<\/h2>\n

See above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The two friends didn\u2019t coordinate their choices, but are excited to be attending colleges that are roughly an 80-mile drive from each other. In the past three years, Michigan State and Western Michigan have played twice in nonconference play, and Jones and Little hope they get a chance to face each other.<\/p>\n

Even if not, Jones and Little are guaranteed at least one more game on the same field.<\/p>\n

Evanston improved from 3-6 last season to 6-2 so far this year. The Wildkits\u00a0are 3-1 in the Central Suburban South Conference, tied for second with New Trier. Evanston will face Maine South\u00a0on Friday\u00a0in the\u00a0regular-season final, with a chance to tie for the conference title. If Evanston wins,\u00a0tiebreakers would decide the\u00a0automatic bid to the state tournament.<\/p>\n

It would be the perfect way to cap a senior season both Jones and Little have savored. Little has enjoyed hanging out more with his teammates. Jones has appreciated watching his grades soar.<\/p>\n

And if his phone isn\u2019t as busy these days, so much the better.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Evanston Township’s Naquan Jones and Matt Little are both top 30 Illinois recruits in their class. (Brooke Rayford\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maddie Lee Naquan Jones\u2019 mom wouldn\u2019t stand for it anymore. She snatched his phone from his hands. Homework first. Jones could talk to college coaches later. \u201cI was so attached to it, with coaches calling and messaging [me],\u201d he said. \u201cIt took me away from my school work a little bit, and even having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2015","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nCollege commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Maddie Lee Naquan Jones\u2019 mom wouldn\u2019t stand for it anymore. She snatched his phone from his hands. Homework first. Jones could talk to college coaches later. \u201cI was so attached to it, with coaches calling and messaging [me],\u201d he said. \u201cIt took me away from my school work a little bit, and even having […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-21T18:41:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"909\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"509\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Maddie Lee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maddie Lee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/\",\"name\":\"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-21T18:41:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/6d0e11f6cc09af276e508e8dc6d56b8f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg\",\"width\":909,\"height\":509,\"caption\":\"Evanston Township's Naquan Jones and Matt Little are both top 30 Illinois recruits. (Brooke Rayford\/Medill)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/6d0e11f6cc09af276e508e8dc6d56b8f\",\"name\":\"Maddie Lee\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a233fca1b1142be420eb16aaec5f307cd63c8c40c265543cd1d510fe9b55907a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a233fca1b1142be420eb16aaec5f307cd63c8c40c265543cd1d510fe9b55907a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Maddie Lee\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/maddielee\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Maddie Lee Naquan Jones\u2019 mom wouldn\u2019t stand for it anymore. She snatched his phone from his hands. Homework first. Jones could talk to college coaches later. \u201cI was so attached to it, with coaches calling and messaging [me],\u201d he said. \u201cIt took me away from my school work a little bit, and even having […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-10-21T18:41:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":909,"height":509,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Maddie Lee","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Maddie Lee","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/","name":"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-21T18:41:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/6d0e11f6cc09af276e508e8dc6d56b8f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/10\/NAQUANANDJONES2.jpg","width":909,"height":509,"caption":"Evanston Township's Naquan Jones and Matt Little are both top 30 Illinois recruits. (Brooke Rayford\/Medill)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/college-commitment-makes-a-lane-for-evanston-seniors-to-savor-final-season\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"College commitment makes a lane for Evanston seniors to savor final season"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/6d0e11f6cc09af276e508e8dc6d56b8f","name":"Maddie Lee","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a233fca1b1142be420eb16aaec5f307cd63c8c40c265543cd1d510fe9b55907a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a233fca1b1142be420eb16aaec5f307cd63c8c40c265543cd1d510fe9b55907a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Maddie Lee"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/maddielee\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}