Whistles blow, cleats click, chinstraps buckle and mouth pieces go in around this time throughout the country. With less than a month away, Syracuse Football is back and ready for a strong season yet again.
For Syracuse University Newhouse BDJ Master’s alum Carl Jones, this time of year brings back a unique moment he will never forget from his time on the Syracuse Football team.
“That was the first time in my life I looked down the field and the vibrations off of the field, because the sound was so great and so strong, I couldn’t see the kickoff returner,” Jones said.
In September of 2018, the undefeated Syracuse football team traveled to Death Valley to face a young freshman quarterback in his first first career start for Clemson. The man who is now the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise leader, Trevor Lawrence.
“I legit couldn’t see 70 yards in front of me, that’s how strong the vibrations were.”
Though with the intensity high and energy pumping to this day, the Orange came up short 27-23. Just three years into his student-athlete career, how did Syracuse University Football become the destination for Carl Jones?
Jones was a late recruit. He didn’t receive his first division one offer until December of his senior season. It was Coach Babers departure from Bowling Green University and arrival at Syracuse, when Jones received interest from the Orange. He later visited and accepted the offer to play football for Syracuse University.
“To be able to play on that stage, ESPN weekly in a Dome… that intrigued me, and I wanted to be a part of it,” Jones said. “I fell in love with the campus, the people, and a strong academic institution in which my Mom enjoyed most.”
Upon Jones’ undergraduate career at Syracuse, journalism became his calling as he joined the Broadcast and Digital Journalism Master’s program in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Growing up without the intention of becoming a journalist, Jones gravitated toward sports.
“I was that kid six, seven years old, reading newspapers looking at box scores, how did Lebron do?,” Jones said. “I would get to school early arguing in the lunchroom, Lebron or Kobe. Brady or Manning. I wanted to be Stuart Scott, Stephen A. Smith, but I didn’t know what that looked like.”
Jones said it became a pipe dream. Another passion of his was criminal justice which was the route he took in undergrad. He didn’t know the power of the Newhouse school until his sophomore year when he took notice of the media coverage throughout his football season.
Since his education and knowledge of sports, Jones has become a lead sports reporter for the News 8 Sports Team in Rochester since September 2021, covering national teams such as the Buffalo Bills.
Jones’ is currently striving for greatness working for an even bigger network in sports such as ESPN or NFL Network continuing the goal-oriented process that he has fostered from his parents. Waking up everyday, pushing toward that goal because Jones can’t see it turning out any other way.
Jones believes running your own race is pivotal in excelling at the next level, especially for the next generation of Master’s students who come through the Newhouse doors.
“In my master’s year and first year in the industry, I kept comparing myself to those who may have had five, six, seven years of journalism classes and taken internships which was discouraging,” Jones said. “I didn’t know what a VOSOT was or a PKG. I felt as if this wasn’t the career path for me.”
Jones said, if you get around enough people who have faith in you, like Professor Stomski and Professor Park, you will run your fastest looking straight ahead, focusing on what you can control.