South Carolina football alum Ernest Jones has had a tremendous start to his NFL career. After an All-SEC career as a Gamecock, the linebacker was selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams.
As a rookie, Jones was excellent for LA, eventually earning one of the starting linebacker jobs and starting for the team in Super Bowl LVI. His best performance came in the NFL’s championship game as he finished in the top-3 in Super Bowl MVP voting after posting seven tackles, a sack, two more tackles for loss, a pass breakup, and a huge goal line stand.
Year 2 was even better than year 1 for Ernest Jones as the former Gamecocks racked up over 100 tackles playing alongside future Hall of Famer Bobby Wagner but was snubbed from the Pro Bowl.
Heading into Year 3, however, Jones has received a new honor.
In 2023, Ernest Jones will be one of the captains of the Los Angeles Rams. He is the only active NFL captain to have played for the South Carolina football program. He was also a team captain for the Gamecocks in 2020 as a junior, his final year with the program.
During his South Carolina football career, Jones made an All-SEC team, was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award (given to the country’s top linebacker), and averaged almost 10 tackles per game as a starter for the Carolina defense.
The Gamecocks have not had a ton of big-time success stories when it comes to traditional NFL linebackers. Jones is already one of the most accomplished non-EDGE linebackers to come from the Gamecock football program as only all-time great Tom Addison can be safely called a better NFL linebacker than Ernest Jones.
Jones and the LA Rams will start their season on September 10th on the road against the Seattle Seahawks.