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Sports

Laurel Man Prepares For Shot At The NFL

Darryl Jones, a former Laurel resident, now a senior from Delaware will work out next month for pro scouts; Laurel grad Harvey will have a new coach this fall at Delaware State and rookie Laurel mentor Sommerville meets with players.

When one door closes, another opens. Luck is the residue of design. Go ahead and pick a cliche, but the real-life good fortune of Darryl Jones most likely is better than any saying.

Jones, 21, who lived in Laurel while he attended St. John's Catholic High, has had a memorable 15 months. It was November 23, 2009 when Northeastern University in Boston announced it was dropping its football program after 74 years. The news came as a shock to many, though school administrators explained rising costs meant it could not continue to lose money in the sport.

That left many Northeastern coaches and players scrambling for a school that had football. The timing was especially difficult for Jones, who lived in the Laurel High district while commuting to St. John's in the District.

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Jones had just finished his junior season at Northeastern and was second on the team in tackles with 68 as a defensive back. Should he stay at the school and finish his degree and not play football in 2010? Or should he look to transfer, knowing that he would be a newcomer and play just one season at another school.

Jones decided to transfer, and he ended up at the University of Delaware. While the Blue Hens have a solid Divison I-AA program, the team also returned its entire starting defensive backfield for the 2010 season.

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But Jones felt it was the best fit, and he broke into the starting lineup early in the season and ended up earning third-team all-CAA honors as the Blue Hens advanced to the national title game before losing by a point to Eastern Washington last month in Texas.

"It was nice. It was fun. It was new to be in the playoffs," said Jones, who played on some bad teams at Northeastern. "It was a nice feeling. I wish we could have won it."

Now Jones, who also lived in Landover as a young boy, hopes to take the next step. And while it may be a long shot, he will join several of his Delaware teammates whose college careers are over when they work out for NFL scouts during Pro Day at the school in Newark on March 15 at 9 a.m.

Jones may be a long shot to be taken in the NFL draft in late April but many college seniors sign as non-drafted free agents.

"I am hoping it will be possible," said Jones, who had 88 tackles to rank fourth on the team last year.

He is used to going the extra mile. When he lived in Laurel, Jones would get a ride with his mother, Sabrina Jones, early in the morning to the Greenbelt Metro station. He would then take the Metro to the Fort Totten statation in the District, then take a bus to the St. John's campus on Military Road in northwest Washington.

Jones said he felt he had a better chance to get a college scholarship by playing at St. John's than if he attended Laurel High, which has had five coaches in the last 10 years and has not had a winning season since 1997.

Jones was listed at 5-foot-10 and 184 pounds as a senior. Other Blue Hens slated to work out next month for pro scouts include quarterback Pat Devlin, who is considered a top NFL prospect. He transferred to Delaware from Penn State, following a similar pattern to that of former quarterback Joe Flacco. After starting out at the University of Pittsburgh, Flacco went to Delaware and then was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens.

If Jones is not with an NFL team in the fall (and there is no work stoppage) he plans to be working towards his college degree. And it won't be at Delaware. Jones plans to finish up in the fall at Northeastern, the school where he spent three years playing football and going to class. He is studying business management and economics. No matter what, it appears the doors keep opening for Jones.

Football notes: Former Laurel High standout Brandon Harvey was second on the Delaware State football team last season with 83 tackles as a junior linebacker. He will have a new coach in 2011 as Kermit Blount was named to the post in early February. A native of Richmond, Blount has coached at Winston-Salem State and is a former assistant at Howard University.

"He will be a lot more disciplined. We should be a better football team," said Harvey, who has one more season of eligibility remaining.

Harvey attended the press conference in which Blount was introduced at Delaware State ... Todd Sommerville, named the new Laurel High football coach Feb. 4, met with Laurel players on Feb. 10 and plans to meet with parents Feb. 15. "The player meeting went well.  We had a good number of returning guys show up.  They all seemed pretty excited about the upcoming year," according to Sommerville. He takes over for Brian Moore, whose contract was not renewed after he went 6-24 in three seasons. Sommerville played at Franklin High in Baltimore County and in college at Catawba in North Carolina.

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