Georgia football: 30 greatest players of the Mark Richt era
By John Buhler
- First-Team All-American (2011)
- Second-Team All-SEC (2011)
- Four-year starter at center
We mentioned him earlier when discussing his replacement David Andrews. Ben Jones was an outstanding four-year starter at center for Georgia. He comes in at No. 19 on the all-time greatest players of the Mark Richt era in Athens.
Jones may have grown up relatively close to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but he was a Dawg for life. He committed to Georgia as part of the 2008 high school graduating class out of Bibb County High School in Centreville, Alabama. His high school teammate was former Vanderbilt Commodores star running back Zac Stacy.
Like all of his recruiting class, Jones entered Georgia during a time of great expectations. The Dawgs were the No. 1 ranked team in the nation during Jones’ first game as a true freshman versus Georgia Southern. Only a few weeks later would Jones assume the role Dawg Nation knows him best for: starting center for the Red and Black.
During the Week 4 game against the ranked Arizona State Sun Devils, Jones would start at center for Georgia. Former starting center Chris Davis would kick over to guard and the rest was history. Jones would go on to start every game the rest of his college career at center.
Given how important that position is to any offense, trusting a true freshman playing for a then undefeated Georgia team was a bold move for Richt to make. Though Georgia would lose the next week in embarrassing fashion at home to the Alabama Crimson Tide, Jones was rock solid anchoring the Dawgs offensive line through the 2011 NCAA season.
Jones snapped the ball to Matthew Stafford during his last year in school, Joe Cox during his one year as the starter in 2009 and Aaron Murray during his first two years as the Dawgs starting quarterback. Running behind Jones were Knowshon Moreno in 2008 and Isaiah Crowell in his one year with the program in 2011.
Overall, Jones’ body of work, as well as winning the SEC East outright in 2011 were key in him garnering an All-SEC nod in his last season with the team. He would be Second-Team All-SEC in 2011, and even nabbed a First-Team All-American nod from ESPN.com.
Jones would be a fourth-round pick by the Houston Texans in the 2012 NFL Draft. He spent his first four seasons in the NFL with Houston before signing a multi-year deal to play for the AFC South rival Tennessee Titans. Jones starts at center today for the Titans, having helped guide them back to the AFC playoffs in 2016 on an imposing offensive line.