Austin Jones (born February 7, 2001) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

and

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

and signed with the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2024.

Early life

Jones was born on February 7, 2001, in

Antioch, California Antioch is the third-most populous city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city is located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. The city's population was 115,29 ...

. He attended

Bishop O'Dowd High School Bishop O'Dowd High School is a Catholic, co-educational, college preparatory school in Oakland, California, administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland and named after the late auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, ...

, where he rushed for 1,560 yards and 23 touchdowns as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

Coming out of high school, Jones was rated as a four-star recruit; he committed to play

for the

College career

Stanford

As a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

in 2019, Jones rushed 45 times for 227 yards and a touchdown. In 2020, he tallied 126 carries for 550 yards and nine touchdowns as he started all six games for Stanford. In 2021, Jones carried the ball 107 times for 378 yards and two touchdowns. After the season, he entered his name into the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

. During his time at Stanford, Jones recorded 278 carries for 1,155 yards and 12 touchdowns and hauled in 67 passes for 531 yards and a touchdown.

USC

Jones transferred to play for the

. In his USC debut in the 2022 season opener, he rushed four times for 48 yards and two touchdowns and made one catch for 21 yards. In week 11 of the 2022 season, Jones rushed 11 times for 74 yards and hauled in four receptions and a touchdown. In week 12, Jones rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns, while also hauling in four receptions for 57 yards. In the 2022 regular season finale, Jones rushed 25 times for 154 yards in a win over Notre Dame. During the 2022 season, Jones rushed 135 times for 705 yards and five touchdowns, while also totaling 25 receptions for 267 yards and a touchdown. In the 2023 season, Jones rushed 85 times for 477 yards and seven touchdowns. After the 2023 season, Jones declared for the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

Professional career

Jones signed with the

as an

on April 29, 2024, and was released on August 27.

Coaching career

In 2025, Austin Jones was hired by Lakeside High School (Lake Elsinore, CA) to coach their football team.

References

External links

USC Trojans bio

Stanford Cardinal bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Austin 2001 births American football running backs Bishop O'Dowd High School alumni Living people Players of American football from Antioch, California Stanford Cardinal football players USC Trojans football players Washington Commanders players