re: Who's old enough to remember Matt Jones?

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Nah, brah. Matt Jones was one of the chillest athletes I've ever met in my life. He just made stuff happen, and never talked shite at all. He smoked a lot of weed.

You're thinking Ryan Mallett.

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No ... I'm thinking Matt Jones.

I interviewed him in 2004 along with Charlie Bennett from the Charleston Post & Courrier and Rick Scoppe from the Greenville News the week of their game here.

Two years earlier, 2002 season in Columbia, I think was maybe his freshman or sophmore season when y'all romped us in the Cock Pit after we had lost 14 starters in the previous two games against LSU and UT, then Nutt wanted some revenge (he hated Holtz) and pressed for a late score after Holtz had called off the dogs in 2000 when, if I remember correctly SC knocked out three Arkansas QBs and maybe Jones finished the game as a true freshman ... but don't quote me on that because 2001 may have been his first hear to face us ... I wanna say it was because if I remember correctly, leading up to the interview, Jones walked into the room and let it be known he had never lost to SC. Backstory, Nutt had run the score up on Holtz in 99 ... so that was what started it all. Plus Nutt had laughed in the post game interview and said boosters in Little Rock had insisted Arkansas only play SC in Little Rock as long as Holtz was here.

There was a lot of nasty stuff going on behind the scenes for our games back then that a lot of the public was not aware of... and that probably contributed to Jones' demeanor by his senior season, but anyways in 2004 he's a senior I think, pretty sure, and I think it was Charlie who asked him if it was true he had made some disparaging remarks about SC after the upset in Fayetteville the year before. I think SC went into that game ranked 9th in the country, I don't remember the score but SC claimed a couple of really bad calls there in Fayetteville yada yada whatever .... and Jones coming in a year later to Columbia had laughed in another interview about an injury to one of SC's players in LR and then he guaranteed a victory ... Charlie asked him about it and he made some real douchebag remarks.

Anyways, SC won the game and afterwards everybody rushed out of Holtz's post game interview as soon as he was finished to rush down the hallway to the Visitor's press room to catch the Matt Jones post game comments (Nutt was still in there but was just finishing-up).

Again, Jones made some practically incoherent disparaging remarks about this and that and everyone was like, what is up with this guy and why has he had a hard on for SC his whole time at Arkansas ... but I just always figured it was because of some brainwashing by Nutt because Nutt hated Holtz so bad.

Who knows. I'll never forget it though and I always thought Jones was a dick .... but hey, it may have just been the way he was around us. Then, when he got in trouble in the NFL I guess it just solidified that opinion about him.

That 2004 game what I remember distinctively about it was Jones rushed for over 100 yards but he was black and blue and limping when he came into the room. Ko Simpson had intercepted him once and ran it back to scoring position and Jones had fumbled once when popped and I think it was Ko who ran that one back for a TD. Anyways, Jones complained about some late hits and no-calls on what he felt should have been pass interference he claimed ... and then he said, and I paraphrase, "I'm not going to be a cry baby and complain too much about bad calls like their coach did last year" or something along those lines and later he was forced to apologize to Holtz and the officials by Slive's office and Nutt thought that was outrageous.

One thing I will say about Jones. He was game ... he was tough. I don't think he ever missed a game because of an injury but he looked like he had been run over by a truck after that game. He had this sleeveless t-shirt on when he walked into the post game interview and when he walked by me where I was standing against the wall I noticed the most wicked swollen bruise that almost appeared to be a subdural hematoma around his left shoulder blade. The kid was tough as nails.