Before 'Google me,' he did: How Isaiah Jones found his fit in Indiana's new era

Before Curt Cignetti ever told the world to “Google me,” Isaiah Jones already had.

Back in December 2023, as Indiana football spiraled into uncertainty and the transfer portal churned with departures, the young linebacker sat down and typed the name of the man who was about to reshape his world: Curt Cignetti.

“I researched his track record from where he’d been at Elon and James Madison,” Jones said Tuesday.

He didn’t know it then, but he was living out the mantra that would soon define Cignetti’s arrival in Bloomington.

During his introductory press conference a few weeks later, when asked how he’d sell recruits on his vision for Indiana, the new head coach fired back four words that became instantly immortalized: “I win, Google me.”

But Jones had already done his homework. He saw the records, the winning seasons, the rapid turnarounds. And while many of his teammates bolted for the portal — casualties of what Cignetti later described as a “crisis roster situation” — Jones waited, watched and believed.

That faith, grounded in curiosity and commitment, is now paying off.

Two years later, “Bones Jones” — the nickname defensive coordinator Bryant Haines affectionately gave him — is no longer the player who quietly Googled his future. He’s one of the engines of a defense that has lifted No. 3 Indiana into the national spotlight and himself into the conversation as one of the conference’s fiercest linebackers.

When Tom Allen was dismissed after the 2023 season, the Hoosiers’ locker room emptied fast. More than 40 players entered the portal before Christmas. Jones could’ve joined them — the safe choice, the common choice — but instead he held back, determined to see who athletic director Scott Dolson would bring in next.

Cignetti’s name surfaced, and Jones got to work. He read articles. Watched old James Madison highlights. Traced the trajectory of Elon’s program under Cignetti’s hand. What he saw wasn’t flash — it was results.

When Cignetti officially arrived, Jones went a step further.

“When they got in the building, it’s a whirlwind, it’s a lot of moving pieces,” Jones said. “But I reached out to coach Haines before we went on our December break. I just wanted to put a face to a name and make contact.”

That proactive text turned into a conversation that changed the course of Jones’ career. Haines — who had coordinated one of the top-five defenses in the nation during James Madison’s first FBS season — saw something in Jones: size, speed and above all, intent.

Jones stayed. He became one of just seven players from his high school recruiting class that remained on the roster.

“I think I was one of the only guys that went up there,” Jones said.

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But by the time Jones arrived at Indiana in 2022, he was already carrying more than just a scholarship offer. He had a lingering back injury — a bulging disc in his L5-S1 — that made everyday movements painful.

“If anyone has ever had it, it’s pretty rough,” Jones said.

He played through it at London High School in Ohio, earning three-star status and choosing Indiana over Minnesota, Duke and Wake Forest. But pain followed him into his freshman year. After redshirting, he underwent a microdiscectomy — a delicate surgery to remove fragments of disc and bone pinching the nerve.

“I was able to do stuff towards the end of spring ball, no contact, but I was able to go out there and move and run,” Jones said. “Once it’s done, for me, it was a game-changer. I felt completely different.”

That renewed health turned out to be the foundation for everything that followed.

Not long after the new staff’s arrival, Haines began referring to his linebacker by a new name — “Bones Jones.”

“Bones Jones? That’s coach Haines all the way,” Jones said with a grin. “Big UFC guy.”

It started as an inside joke — a nod to Jon “Bones” Jones, one of the most dominant fighters in mixed martial arts history. But before long, the name spread.

“I was walking through the weight room and coach [Pat] Kuntz comes walking through and is like, ‘Bones Jones,’” Jones said in a low, raspy voice, imitating the Hoosiers’ defensive tackles coach. “I was like, ‘Where did you hear that? That’s all Haines refers to you in the meeting room as.’ I was like, Bones Jones it is.”

At 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, Jones carries the same long-limbed, coiled energy that made the UFC fighter famous. But it’s his explosiveness — and his timing — that’s made him one of the Big Ten’s breakout stars. He leads Indiana in sacks (4.5, tied for third in the conference) and tackles for loss (10, first in the Big Ten).

“He’s a true depiction of what I feel like a linebacker should be, especially in the Big Ten,” running back Roman Hemby said. “Just his grit and how he plays the game. He’s always in the right gaps, he makes you work.”

The impact of “Bones” isn’t limited to the stat sheet.

At Kinnick Stadium, on the second play from scrimmage, Jones tipped a pass that turned into an interception by Amare Ferrell at Iowa’s 24-yard line. Indiana scored two plays later. The following week against Oregon, he sliced through the line on fourth-and-one to force an early turnover on downs, giving the Hoosiers a short field that led to another early touchdown.

“I think everyone is just so proud of Isaiah Jones,” Cignetti said Monday. “He’s a great teammate. He’s a great leader. He represents everything that we talk about, what it takes to be the best you can be.”

Jones’ rise wasn’t instant. Last season, he lost snaps to then-true freshman Rolijah Hardy in Indiana’s “Joker” package, a situational look featuring three linebackers.

He went from playing 49 snaps — the most of his career — in a win last season at Northwestern, to just 73 snaps across the final six games of the 2024 season.

But Jones never let the setback define him.

“Just kind of understanding the scheme and being able to learn from older guys like Cam Jones, ‘Ace,’ Aaron Casey, guys like that,” Jones said. “Being able to take everything you learn year by year and just put it together, and here we are.”

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Now he’s playing all three linebacker spots and has already surpassed his snap total from a season ago.

“He’s just getting what he deserves. He’s always been that guy,” cornerback D’Angelo Ponds said. “He’s getting the opportunity and he’s taking advantage of it … He’s a product of the work he put in.”

For Jones and the handful of players who stayed through some of Indiana’s darkest days, these past two seasons have meant just a little bit more.

“Those guys [Fisher and Hardy] came from a program that was known for winning. I joke with those guys, ‘You don’t know what it was like before this. You don’t know the 3-9s, the 4-8s,’” Jones said. “For me, and I know for a lot of the guys that stayed over, it’s special. For us, it’s meant a lot, to be able to see what we could turn this place into.”

Jones has seen both sides — the hollow locker rooms after another loss, the transfers, the coaching turnover. Now, he’s living through the renaissance.

Indiana has turned into something unrecognizable: organized, disciplined, ferocious. And in the middle of it stands the linebacker who once quietly researched his coach and made a choice to believe before belief was easy. That search led Jones here: to a 6-0 record, to the forefront of a top-five defense, to the sound of “Bones Jones!” echoing through walls of Memorial Stadium every morning.

It’s fitting, really. The player who once Googled his future is now helping define it — for himself and for Indiana.

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