Jones faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of cocaine charge
Associated Press

Updated: August 11, 2008, 1:17 PM ET
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Matt Jones pleaded not guilty Monday to possession of cocaine, a charge that carries up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.




Jones

Jones, who is free on a $2,500 bond, faces an Oct. 10 trial date -- two days before the Jaguars play at Denver.

The 25-year-old Jones, a former Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback who was taken in the first round by Jacksonville in 2005, was arrested July 10 when a Fayetteville police officer saw him inside a car allegedly cutting up cocaine with a credit card.

Jones' father, Steve, has denied the cocaine was in his son's possession. He acknowledged it was in the vehicle, however, and in "closest proximity to Matt."

Neither Jones nor his attorney would comment to reporters after the brief hearing Monday morning.

During his time with the Jaguars, Jones has been criticized for not living up to his potential. But Jones stood out in the team's first preseason scrimmage and drew praise from coach Jack Del Rio.

Jones had three catches for 37 yards in Jacksonville's 20-17 victory Saturday night over the Atlanta Falcons.

Jones said he has had injury trouble that has kept him from being at his best the past two years. The Florida Times-Union reported that before training camp Jones was at workouts in Greensboro, N.C., run by former NFL receiver Ricky Proehl, where he worked on routes.

Jones' prospects appeared dim when the Jaguars added receivers in the offseason, signing free agent Jerry Porter (six years, $30 million) and acquiring former first-round pick Troy Williamson. However, injuries to Porter (torn hamstring) and Reggie Williams (right knee) have led to more repetitions for Jones.

A couple of weeks after his arrest, Jones apologized to Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, Del Rio and his teammates.

Jones caught 101 passes for 1,392 yards and 13 touchdowns in his first three seasons.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

A better comparison would be this and Michael Irvin since both involved cocaine.

In Michael Vick's case, the animal cruelity aspect got many people all fired up.

If it's just another athlete or actor or rock star caught up on cocaine, most poeple won't care.

Sowhat said:

True.

Graycap23 said:

Plus most people outside of hard core Football fans don't even know who Matt Jones is. A lot more people knew who Mike Vick was even before the dog thing. Mike Vick was a superstar while most people are going Matt who?????


And I have to give it up to Jacksonville's coach Jack Del Rio....I went to High School with him (he was a senior when I was a Freshman) and I played on a couple of Baseball teams with his youngest brother.

Sowhat said:

I played on an area BBall team with Jack and Alton Lynch also from Hayward High I believe, after we graduated HS.

He was a nice guy then.

oldmanjohnson said:

ALTON LYNCH...that was my boy. He was in the same graduating class as Jack.

For a while Alton worked at McDonald's on Jackson street in Hayward and we would go to the drive thru all keyed up and place our special order with the code "We would like to order a large JUICE" which was code for it's us so this order is free.

Too bad Alton passed away.






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[Edited 8/11/08 14:33pm]

Oh My God, I didn't know that. He was a strong dude on the court. How long ago did he pass?

oldmanjohnson said:

Alton was a big and strong dude for sure.It was several years ago when he passed, I want to say late 80's early 90's. I don't even know what he passed from. I want to saw he was back East somewhere at the time.

Hayward High had one hell of a team that year...Alton Lynch, Jack Del Rio, John Bedford, Ron Moss, Barret Brown.....