FLORENCE, Ala. — Former Georgia State University defensive back Evan Jones has signed a scholarship with the University of North Alabama and will be eligible to play for the Lions in 2021.
Jones, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound naive of Decatur, Ga., originally signed at the University of Illinois before joining Georgia State in 2018.
He spent two years at Illinois, including a redshirt season in 2016 and played in two of the first three games of the 2017 season before missing the final nine games due to injury. He was a two-time member of Illinois' Academic Honor Roll.
At Georgia Southern in 2019, he played in all 13 games as a backup cornerback. He collected 24 tackles on the season, including 21 solo stops. He made one of the biggest defensive plays of 2019 for Georgia Southern in the season-opening upset at Tennessee when he sacked UT quarterback Jarrett Guarantano and caused a fumble. GSU recovered to set up a touchdown run that iced the win for the Panthers.
In 2020 he saw action in eight games, primarily on special teams.
Jones was on the Sun Belt Conference Honor Roll in 2019-20 and the GSU Athletic Director's Honor Roll three semesters.
He was a three-year letter winner at Salem High School in Illinois and was rated a three-star prospect by ESPN.com. He led the team in interceptions and played in the 2015 The Real AJ Foundation Georgia High School All-Star Game. He was also a track standout as a two-time region finalist in the hurdles.
His father, Reginald Jones, played football at Southern University.
