Jones UT-bound
HIGH SCHOOL/ COLLEGE FOOTBALL
By MITCH LUCAS sports@kilgorenewsherald.com

ANOTHER ONE HEADED TO AUSTIN - Kilgore High School defensive end Dominique Jones (above), a junior, has made a verbal commitment to sign with the University of Texas football program next year.

If everything goes according to plan, the University of Texas will have yet another Kilgore native participating in one of its sports programs next year.

Dominique Jones, currently a junior at Kilgore High School and a defensive end on the KHS football team, has verbally committed to sign a letter of intent with the UT football program next February, Kilgore head football coach and athletic director Mike Vallery said Tuesday.

Jones, listed at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, was one of the Bulldogs' top defenders in the 2007 season. He finished with 75 tackles, 28 solo, four for loss, 4 1/2 sacks, two caused fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 10 hurries. He also played tight end on offense.

He was being recruited by a number of other programs, including Texas A&M and Texas Christian University.

If Jones does sign with Texas and join head coach Mack Brown in Austin, he'll be the latest in a long line of former Bulldogs to do so, and not just on the football team.

Vallery's football program, which won the UIL Class 4A Division 2 state football championship in 2004 and is a regular title contender, has already placed three players - offensive linemen Britt Mitchell and Michael Huey, and defensive end Eddie Jones - in the Longhorns' football program in the last two seasons, all three of them getting good playing time. But the UT-Kilgore connection goes way beyond football.

Former KHS football and baseball standout Pat McCrory is a key part of the Longhorns' baseball program, and Casey Whitmer, another former KHS baseball standout, will join McCrory there this year.

Shelby Savony, yet another former Kilgore High athlete, is making waves in the UT softball program, and Laura Perkins is a part of the UT rowing team.

Jones returns, of course, for his senior season in 2008 with the Ragin' Red - they'll play in District 14-4A, along with Henderson, Jacksonville, Lindale, Nacogdoches and Whitehouse, and will open the season here at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium against Carthage.