(born
March 23 ,
1985 in
Antioch, California ) is a current American Football
Running Back for the
Jacksonville Jaguars . He was drafted in the second round (60th overall) of the
2006 NFL Draft . Drew graduated from national football powerhouse
De La Salle High School in
Concord and played three years of college football at
UCLA before declaring himself eligible for the NFL draft after his junior year.
Maurice starred at national powerhouse De La Salle. The football teams he played on never lost a single game during his 3-year career. He was an elusive, high-scoring running back and return specialist on offense and a punishing linebacker on defense. Maurice somersaulted into the national consciousness on October 6, 2001, when, as a junior, he scored all four of De La Salle's touchdowns (TDs) in a 29-15 nationally-televised victory over . Drew’s third touchdown came in the second quarter when he burst through the line, shook off two tacklers, before hitting paydirt 17 yards later. Drew’s final score salted away the historic De La Salle victory. It was a similar effort to his third touchdown and came on a 22-yard run with just under 7 minutes remaining. Drew finished with nine carries for 86 yards and three catches for another 79 yards.
During his senior season, Maurice was even better. He rushed for nearly 1,500 yards, averaged nearly 12 yards per carry, and scored 26 touchdowns. He was rated the No. 1 all-purpose back in the nation by
rivals.com . He is pictured outrunning a slew of defenders on the cover of the book "
When The Game Stands Tall ," which chronicles the De La Salle Spartan's all-time-record 151-game winning streak.
Maurice Jones-Drew played his entire collegiate career at
UCLA under head coach
Karl Dorrell . Despite being undersized, Jones-Drew led the Bruins in rushing all three years he was on the squad and showed good pass catching ability and big playmaking skills as both a punt and kickoff returner.
In 2005, Maurice set an all-time NCAA single-season record with a 28.5 yards per return average on 15 punt returns, breaking the previous record of 25.9 yards per return held by Bill Blackstock of Tennessee in 1951. His career average of 23.2 yards per punt return ranks second in NCAA history. Jones-Drew also established a number of UCLA records, including the career all-purpose yardage record (4,688 yards). As a sophomore against Washington, Maurice set UCLA's all-time record for yards rushing in a single game (322 yards) and also scored a school-record five touchdowns. On his first carry of the game he burst to the outside and raced 47 yards to tie the game at 7-7. On his second carry, with UCLA trailing 24-7 and 2:30 remaining in the first quarter, he raced 62 yards for another TD. On his fourth carry, a third-and-12 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter, he sped 58 yards for his third TD. In the first quarter alone, he rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns on four attempts. He gave the Bruins the lead for good (27-24) with 4:16 remaining in the first half when he scooted around right end for a 15-yard touchdown. In the third quarter, he broke numerous tackles en route to his school-record fifth touchdown, a 37-yard run on the Bruins' first possession of the half. His total of 322 yards rushing was the 3rd most in the history of the Pac-10 Conference, and his overall performance earned him several National Player of the Week awards. His final year in college, his junior year, he was a consensus first-team All-American as an all-purpose back and a first-team All-Pac 10 selection as a punt returner, ahead of
Heisman Trophy -winner
Reggie Bush . He was also the first Bruin since
Jackie Robinson to lead the country in punt returning. Maurice gave a sign of things to come when, as a freshman, he rushed for 176 yards on only 18 carries against Arizona State, including an 83-yard scamper down the left sideline to the end zone which put UCLA ahead in the game for good in the third quarter. The run was the longest ever by a Bruin true freshman and ranked ninth (tied) overall on the school's list of long runs. His 176-yard day ranks No. 2 on UCLA's all-time list for true freshmen. In his collegiate career, Jones-Drew had 16 touchdowns of 40-plus yards. He was amed to the Golden Gridiron Team by the WCBGU Athletic Group.
Maurice Jones-Drew was selected 60th overall in the 2nd round of the
2006 NFL Draft by the
Jacksonville Jaguars to perhaps eventually replace
Fred Taylor .
In the beginning he was used mostly for kick-off returns, but he eventually became the Jaguars' primary third-down back. After a relatively slow start, Jones-Drew suddenly exploded. Against the Colts on December 10, 2006, Jones-Drew set a franchise record with 166 rushing yards and 303 All-Purpose Yards, which included a 93-yard kickoff return for touchdown. He already has broken Jaguars team records by scoring at least one rushing touchdown in eight consecutive games (the previous record was four straight games) and by gaining 2,250 all-purpose yards.
He finished 3rd in the NFL in both kickoff returns (27.7 yd avg) and touchdowns scored (16). He was also one of only two players in the NFL to score at least one TD rushing, receiving, and returning kicks (
Reggie Bush was the other). He also led all AFC running backs in scrimmage yards per touch. Narrowly missing 1,000 yards for the season, Jones-Drew's rushing average of 5.7 yds per carry was 1st in the NFL for backs with 100 attempts and was the highest for an NFL running back since Barry Sanders averaged 6.1 yds per rush in 1997. In addition, he had the third-most all-purpose yards of any rookie in history. He was nominated five different times for NFL Rookie of the Week in 2006. According to one NFL scout, "Maurice Jones-Drew should be rookie of the year. He's got the biggest legs for a shorter guy and way more power than anybody gives him credit for. And he's got outstanding speed. He's just a little dynamo." (Source: The Sporting News, Jan. 8, 2007, edition, p. 33.)
Nevertheless, he finished tied for 2nd in the balloting for Offensive Rookie of the Year (
Vince Young of the
Tennessee Titans was the winner). Experts believe he could be another
Joe Morris type running back with short stature but blazing speed. On a more humorous note, Jones-Drew says he likes wearing #32 because it reminds him each and every time he steps on the football field just how many NFL teams bypassed him the draft because of his height (all of them, in fact).
Born Maurice Drew to Andrea and Dana Drew, Maurice was raised by his grandparents, Christina Jones and Maurice Jones. During his junior year at UCLA, Jones-Drew's grandfather died of a heart attack while watching him play against
Rice University . To honor his late grandfather, Jones-Drew changed his name from Drew to its current form. One common nickname for Jones-Drew is "MoJo," combining the abbreviations of his first and last names. Other nicknames for him include "Beast", "Merlin", "Superman", "The Pinball," "The Pinball Wizard," "Pocket Hercules" (Given by CBS analyst Shannon Sharpe), "MJD" and "Mighty MJD."
Jones-Drew appeared in a
Television Commercial for
ESPN . The commercial featured him being inducted into the mythical ''Fantasy Football Hall of Fame''.
Jones-Drew will appear in a television commercial for
Campbell's in fall of 2007.
