The 50 most important college players in Texas in 2016 — No. 39: SMU's Xavier Jones

[caption id="attachment_23292" align="alignright" width="239"]IMG_5290 Photo by Mike Williamson[/caption] The importance of a player is not always defined by their skill. The most important player on a team is not always the best player on a team. This list is designed to breakdown the 50 most important players in Texas college football for the 2016 season. It is not a ranking of the 50 best college football players in the state. Importance can be defined by position, need, skill or leadership. We’ll count down the list through the summer, all the way to No. 1.Previously — 40: Sam Houston RB Corey Avery // 41: Prairie View A&M DE DeVohn Reed // 42: Texas State WR Demun Mercer // 43: UTEP S Devin Cockrell // 44: UNT DT Bryce English // 45: Texas OL Connor Williams // 46: Texas Tech DT Breiden Fehoko // 47: Houston DT B.J. Singleton // 48: Texas A&M DT Daylon Mack // 49: TCU S Denzel Johnson  // 50: Baylor S Chance WazNo. 39 – SMU running back Xavier JonesThe History Considered a three-star recruit by 247Sports out of Spring High School, Xavier Jones made a historic impact at SMU as a redshirt freshman in head coach Chad Morris’ first year at the helm. Jones set a school record with 10 touchdowns as a freshman. He started six of the 12 games he participated in during that campaign. Jones racked up 634 yards rushing and was second on the team with 27 catches and 214 yards. Jones was second on the team in scoring with 60 points and even threw for a pair of touchdowns out of the backfield. Jones put up video game numbers in his senior season at Spring, earning District 1-6A Offensive MVP honors in 2014. He helped lead his team to the regional finals by rushing for 2,229 yards and 29 touchdowns on the ground. He caught 36 passes, as well. The Skillset Jones is a weapon. In his first real season as a college football player, Jones showed the ability to make plays with his legs out of the backfield, catch the ball as a receiver and even throw the ball on trick plays. He can also be used as a return specialist. Jones is 5-foot-10, 193 pounds and prides himself as a three-down running back. Chad Morris’ system requires a running back with receiving skills and Jones is already a proven threat out of the backfield. He’s also big enough to block when he needs to stay in during blitz pickup. Morris is in the process of improving the talent at every position, including running back. Jones is potentially a 200+ carry running back for the next three years. Add in his ability to catch out of the backfield and he could easily approach 250 touches in a season. He had 179 touches in his redshirt freshman season. The Impact Morris is known as a quarterback guru from his time at Lake Travis. While it’s true Morris knows how to call a passing offense, he also loves to control the game on the ground. Morris’ offenses at Lake Travis and Clemson were more run-heavy than given credit and Jones is a perfect match for what Morris is trying to do offensively. Jones requires defenses to stay honest against the run. His biggest impact may be in the passing game, however, even if he rushes for 1,000 yards as a sophomore. Jones’ ability to catch the ball makes defenses assign a man to him on third downs, which limits the ability to blitz and it opens up passing lanes for the wide receivers in the middle of the field.

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