Christian Jones expects Texas' hard work and pride to carry it to its goals
Texas offensive tackle Christian Jones expects to accomplish plenty this season with his Longhorn teammates. He came back to the team for a sixth season in an attempt to help win a Big 12 Conference championship that’s eluded the program since 2009, but Jones will also take a little time to stop and smell the roses along the way.
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Heading into the 2023 campaign, Jones was named to the preseason watch lists for the Wuerffel Trophy and Reese’s Senior Bowl. He is a second-team preseason All-Big 12 selection per Athlon Sports, was chosen third-team preseason All-Big 12 by Phil Steele and earned a spot on the preseason All-Texas Second Team by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
He’s also one of the Longhorns’ most thoughtful spokesmen, and recently explained his frame of mind when asked if this was a “now or never” season for Texas and for him personally.
“Definitely at first I would say ‘yes,’ I had that feeling,” Jones said. “But not too long ago I talked to my dad, and he’s just as excited about the season as I am. And he said that he is going to cherish every single game and he’s going to, at the end of every single game, look around the stadium and just be appreciative of the opportunity.
“And that’s definitely what I’m going to do this season – take my role and just look at it like that. The ‘all or nothing’ hype thing would just cause stress and strain. I mean, I’m playing a game that I love, and I’m playing it with teammates that I love in the city that I love and for the school that I love, so there should be no pressure – just go out there and enjoy it. That’s gonna be my goal.”
Jones said that this was the most competitive preseason in his six years on the 40 Acres.
“Talent has just improved overall in every single position room,” Jones said. “We have really, really special guys young guys, old guys. And we’re trying to earn their keep and everyone’s important to the team. So whatever role that they do get to do have we all know that we have to take care of it and try our best.”
Jones, who goes at 6-foot-6 and 321 pounds, has played in 48 games with 35 starts in his six years at Texas and is using his additional year of eligibility. He was an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection in 2022 by the league’s coaches and earned Academic All-Big 12 First Team honors in 2021.
Jones was also named to the Academic All-Big 12 Second Team in 2020 and is a seven-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (spring 2020, fall 2020, spring 2021, fall 2021, spring 2022, fall 2022, spring 2023).
There are plenty of expectations for the Longhorns, but Jones said that will be dealt with in a manner of pride that the team will carry with them to the field.
“’Responsibility,’ I feel like it’s the wrong word,” Jones explained. “I just say pride – taking pride of what we do and how we do it. Knowing that there’s a standard and we stick to that standard no matter who we play no matter what week, to temperature, none of that. Just looking along the line and knowing that these guys have my back and I got theirs.”
