Marco Jones lived every defensive lineman's dream

Key notes from Marco Jones interview

• In high school, I played a good amount of tight end. That was fun to get the ball and score some touchdowns. Saturday was not the longest touchdown of my life. I had a pick-six that was either 65 or 75 yards before, but that play against Arizona State was close.
   
• I was just running and kept looking back because I saw the dude behind me when I first grabbed the ball. I made sure he wasn’t getting up on my toe.
   
• To be honest, that just happened in a perfect flow. T.J. Searcy had a great play, a great rush and hit the ball out. The ball was in the air, and it felt like it was sitting there for a while. I had to go get it, so I jumped up and grabbed it.
   
• So far, both games have been good, but there are endless things to work on. They’ve been good, but we’re always trying to get better and finding stuff to work on.
   
• When I first got here, it was the hardest because everyone comes in after being the guy in high school. It was different, but over time, I realized it was for the best because Cashius Howell and the other ends played amazing. It was the right thing to do to sit behind them, and I had to keep grinding to get better. Each day, I’m just trying to get better because I know more opportunities would come. I had to stay ready and make the most of them.
   
• Playing defensive end at the college level more makes the game easier. That has been the biggest thing for me. Last year, spring ball was my only taste of it, so jumping into games and knowing how the season is like has been the biggest jump for me.
   
• To be quite honest, in my opinion, over the course of the game, we’re a team that prides itself coming out hot and finishing how you start. We slowly wore them down on Saturday. Some good rushes in the start might not get home, but you can’t get discouraged. You have to stay ready to go take it. The defensive line and defense as a whole took every opportunity, and that’s what set us apart at the end of the game.
   
• Every person in our defensive end room has something different about them. We can all do everything, but we have different aspects to our game in how we go about it. Searcy, Anto Saka, Sam M’Pemba, Ryan Henderson and the young guys like Bryce Perry-Wright and Tristian Givens, we just do what we need to do and try to play harder than everybody else. We know, realistically, everyone has one main goal, which is to win. We have to do our part, and we’re completely bought in and on the same page.
   
• You can’t get turnovers if you’re loafing. That’s our main focus. If you have the ball, you win. That ball is the most important thing on the field. If you have the ball as a defender, you’re doing something good. We’re hyperfocused on getting the ball, whether it’s punches or picks. We’re taking our practice habits and implementing them into the game.
   
• I haven’t seen Nolan Cain recently, but I see Michael Earley in the cafeteria every now and then.
   
• Jay Bateman does what he needs to do to get his defense ready to go, and he helped me in my recruitment. You can’t hold grudges against coaches because they have to do what’s best for their family. Bateman is a great coach, and it’ll be nice to catch up with him.
   
• Going against those tackles, I treat every single one of them the same because you can’t be up-and-down. The best players are on a flat line. You can’t get too excited. You have to have that happy medium. It’s great to go against great players, but you have to treat it all the same and go do your thing.
   
• Everything we do is outside in the heat other than lifting weights. We don’t practice inside, and that’s for a reason because the first half of the season is going to be hot. The build up to the season of working and keeping our heads down has been part of it, and we don’t let the heat be a factor. Put your head down and go to work. Those days pay off because you don’t even notice it when you get in the game. You’re just in that mode when you’re getting ready to go.