Mike Jones Jr. explains what he learned about himself during difficult 2021 season

Since winning the 2019 national championship, hard times have fallen on LSU football. Wins were not coming on the football field and head coach Ed Orgeron left the program after a 2021 record of 6-6 in Baton Rouge. Everybody involved had a difficult time, including linebacker Mike Jones Jr.

Even with the struggles, Jones found a way to make a positive out of the 2021 season. Jones recently joined The Bengal Tiger podcast, hosted by On3’s Billy Embody, to discuss some of the thing he learned about himself. The linebacker began by saying he realized how much the game of football meant to him.

“I learned a few things,” Jones said. “One of the main things I would say I learned though is — I love the game. And I feel like it’s really hard to really realize that until you go through some adversity that’s different than you would have ever expected. When things don’t go exactly the way they do. There’s some times where it could be easy to say ‘I might not study as hard as I want to this week’ or ‘I might not get in the mentality of me doing this or playing as many snaps.’ You don’t know.”

LSU’s Mike Jones Jr. discusses his mentality during 2021 season

Jones also discussed his mentality on a week-to-week basis, especially when LSU was going through a losing period. He said the goal was to always play like a title was on the line, no matter the opponent.

“I learned from myself. I improved myself every week, regardless of what was happening. Regardless of how many snaps I was expected to play. Regardless of how I felt going into the game. I was going to approach it like I was going out there to play for a national championship. I think that was the biggest thing, man. I really love the game and it’s very important to me. My teammates are very important to me, I care for all our guys. I’d say those are probably the biggest things for me.”

Spending his first season at LSU this past year after transferring from Clemson, Jones was a decent contributor to the squad. He racked up 34 tackles with 2.5 tackles for a loss and one sack. How he spent working on himself during the 2021 season could be the difference for the Tigers next year.

Jones will be assuming a larger role under head coach Brian Kelly as he transitions into his junior season. Big things are to come not only for the linebacker but also LSU.