Wilson’s Cam Jones passes Holy Cross test with flying colors
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Cam Jones didn’t get picked on in high school. At Wilson he was the alpha male, whether it be football or basketball; he was the guy setting the tone, making the plays, winning the games.
He was a two-time All-State football pick and a lock-down corner for three seasons. After a while opposing quarterbacks stopped throwing to his side of the field. Why bother?
It wasn’t like that at the next level. He didn’t get on the field for a single play his first season at Holy Cross and when he did, as the starting cornerback last year, you could’ve painted a target on his back.
“They went right at me,” Jones recalls. “They definitely tested me (right away).”
He gave up a long completion the first time they tried to go up top on him.
“It was definitely a real punch in the mouth,” he said.
Sting as it might, Jones didn’t mind. He welcomed the challenge. Things were just too easy for him in high school, and he knew it. He was the Berks Player of the Year as a senior. He was stronger, faster, and more intuitive than almost every other guy on the field. How else can you explain the fact that he returned five punts – easily a Berks single-season record – for touchdowns?
There are a lot of faces crowded onto Wilson’s football Mount Rushmore but you’d be hard-pressed to find any who impacted the game in all three phases the way Jones did.
Of course, that resume didn’t mean squat to Jones’ Patriot League opponents. All they saw was a rookie out on an island and they attacked.
“For the (first) four or five weeks he was always being tested, at least in the beginning of the games,” said Holy Cross associate head coach and secondary coach Bryan Robbat. “Then he started making those plays, and everybody started going the other way.”
Jones’ biggest test came at midseason against Syracuse, the only Power Five school on the Holy Cross schedule. The Crusaders gave up three early scores and got blitzed 42-14 at the Carrier Dome but for Jones the game was a turning point. He made five tackles and broke up a couple of passes. He more than held his own against a cadre of talented FBS scholarship receivers.
“Cam plays his best ball when the lights get brighter,” Robbat said. “When he was playing in their dome, he gave up some plays, don’t get me wrong, but he made more plays than he gave up. That’s when he (realized): ‘I can play here.’ That was a big boost. After that he pretty much turned into a lock-down corner.”
Jones’ opponents took notice. They started finding other areas of the secondary to probe. By season’s end Patriot League coaches were impressed enough by his play to name him to the all-conference second team. (He was also named to the conference All-Academic team.)
Jones started all 12 games, led the team with nine pass breakups, and tied for the team lead with a pair of interceptions. He finished with 56 tackles, third on the team.
He had a season-high 11 stops vs. New Hampshire and four pass breakups in a win over Fordham. In a 40-38 win over Bucknell he recovered a blocked punt and returned it for a TD.
Jones looks back to the Syracuse game as the most important in his first full college season of action.
“I got tested, and came out on the better end of them,” he said. “(Two weeks later) against Fordham I had four or five PBUs (pass break-ups). After that it was pretty quiet (on my side of the field).”
Like Jones, Holy Cross finished with a flourish. It went 5-2 after the Syracuse loss and finished tied with Lehigh for first place to earn its sixth straight conference title, a Patriot League record. Jones was a key part of that.
“It was great to see him grow as the season went on,” Robbat said. “He gave up that big play (early in the season), but after that he just kept stacking days, stacking weeks, and by the end of the season I (realized): ‘This kid’s one of the top guys in the league.’ ”
Jones’ teammates saw his impact, on and off the field, and named him a captain for this season. The rising junior is one of only two underclassmen accorded that honor; the other three captains are seniors.
Jones wasn’t certain things would turn out so well for him after his first year of college ball. Right before the season-opener he was told he’d see time on the field but it never happened. He was strictly a scout team player, a role that took some getting used to.
“It humbled me and made me come to the (realization) that you’re not always going to be the guy that’s in the limelight, scoring those touchdowns, making those plays,” he said. “Sometimes you’re meant to find your place in the world. It was hard for me to take on that scout team role; that’s something I never did at Wilson.”
There was more uncertainty for Jones when Holy Cross head coach Bob Chesney, whose staff had recruited him, left following the 2023 season to take a job at James Madison (replacing Curt Cignetti, who went on to Indiana.)
Jones had to prove himself to a new coaching staff. His commitment and leadership qualities showed through in the offseason and new head coach Dan Curran and his staff quickly realized they had inherited a diamond in the rough.
“After speaking with (Cam) for about a half hour, and not even seeing his film, I called Bryan Robbat and said, ‘We’ve got something here,’ ” Curran told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette during spring practice.
Jones spent a lot of time with Robbat last offseason learning the finer points of cornerback. Even though he played the position for three years at Wilson it wasn’t his total focus. He was involved on offense at several positions and in several facets of the kicking game. He never had spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of cornerback play.
“When I got to college, I really didn’t know how to play the position,” he admitted. “I was an athlete out there, running with guys. (After I got here) I was focusing on what coaches were teaching me about my feet placement, my hand placement, being able to get your hands on guys. I began watching (film of) more guys at that position (in college and the pros). In high school I was watching (film of) Saquon Barkley.”
Robbat saw the huge leap Jones made between his freshman and sophomore seasons.
“I told him before last season: ‘You’re going to have a great season, and nobody knows it except you and me,’ ” Robbat said. “I told his Mom (Nia) before the season: ‘I guarantee your son’s going to be an all-conference corner.’ ”
Nia had one question for the coach: When’s Cam going to get a chance to return kicks?
Robbat, who’s also the Crusaders’ special teams coordinator, has watched film of Jones running circles around his Lancaster-Lebanon League opponents. He said Jones will have a chance to earn a spot as a return man this season.
“Any ways we can get Cam the ball, we’re gonna try that,” he said, “whether it be picks or in the kicking game. He’s a guy who we can rely on.”
