University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: How Special
November 26, 2011 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
Nov. 26, 2011
Too often in modern society, we fall into the trap of believing that the last thing we've seen is the greatest thing we've ever seen. It's as if we think by not dubbing something the `best ever,' we're diminishing its greatness in the moment. But there can be no mistaking Dwight Jones' Carolina career: He is simply one of the greatest wide receivers in Tar Heel football history. In Saturday's 37-21 win over Duke, that was evident.
Before the game kicked off, Jones was recognized with his senior classmates. As he jogged out of the locker room tunnel, Jones' four-year-old son Cam'ron ran to meet him. Dwight lifted his son into his arms. "I asked him how many touchdowns he wanted me to score," Jones said. "Every game, he always wants me to score touchdowns for him, and he gets mad when I don't score."
Cam'ron was happy Saturday night. Dwight Jones scored three of Carolina's four touchdowns, and established a new UNC record with 79 receptions in a single season. With 101 receiving yards, Jones tied a school record with his fifth game eclipsing the century mark. "This was my final game playing at Carolina," Jones said afterward. "To go out with a performance like that, I don't think you could dream of it."
On the Tar Heels' second drive of the game, quarterback Bryn Renner faked a handoff to Giovani Bernard and rolled out to his left. There, at the back of the end zone, was Jones, who reached up and hauled the ball in over Duke cornerback Ross Cockrell.
Duke closed to within two points at 23-21 late in the third quarter. The Tar Heels responded by marching down the field, capping a five-play scoring drive with a one-handed Jones catch.
For good measure, Renner went to him again midway through the fourth quarter, on a play-action pass to a leaping Jones in the east end zone.
"We kind of just look at each other, and we kind of know it's time to turn it up a notch," Renner said of his chemistry with Jones. "I think with all the receivers, we kind of just know when someone's hot, that we've got to keep feeding them the ball."
Following the game, Jones was the most popular interview subject on the fifth floor of the Kenan Football Center. He was asked a lot of questions, many of them beginning with the phrase, `How special . . .'
`How special is it to have a night like this?' `How special was it to have your son out there?' `How special is it to beat Duke?'
It was all special, really. Jones' road to Carolina was not an easy one. It's a short drive from Burlington Cummings High School to Chapel Hill, but Dwight Jones took detours through Hargrave Military Academy and Valdosta State University in Georgia before arriving in the fall of 2008. He was content to gain experience in practice behind Brooks Foster, Brandon Tate and Hakeem Nicks. As a sophomore he watched then-freshman Erik Highsmith make a splash alongside Greg Little. Last year, with Little ineligible, Jones stepped in and broke through. He's since rewritten the record books. "It just seems like yesterday I was a freshman," Jones said after his final home game. "They always told me, when you go to college it's going to fly by, and it truly has flown by. I've had a great experience here. I'm going to miss all my brothers and miss all my friends."
One of those friends is redshirt freshman Giovani Bernard. Three weeks ago, Bernard became Carolina's first 1,000-yard rusher since 1997. Last week, Jones joined Bernard by becoming the Tar Heels' second-ever 1,000-yard receiver (with Nicks). They are Carolina's first tailback-receiver tandem to both pass 1,000 yards in the same season. The two help each other. Get the ground game going, and it opens up the air. The reverse is true as well. "He's almost been like a role model to me, just seeing how he carries himself, and seeing how humble he is," Bernard said of Jones. "You really don't hear him talk too much in the huddle. He's a quiet person, but I really appreciate his work ethic, and he's an amazing guy."
Like Nicks before him, Dwight Jones is a quiet, goes-about-his-business football player. But head coach Everett Withers said he got a sense that Jones was intent on ending his career on a good note. "For maybe the last month or so, you could just see that he's cherished every day he's been out there, whether it be on the practice field or (watching) game film," Withers said. "Dwight has become the guy in that locker room. He doesn't say a whole lot but when Dwight talks, there's a lot of people in that locker room listening."
Saturday was a good day in Kenan Stadium. Seventeen seniors played the final home game of their Carolina careers. The Tar Heels beat Duke, 31-17, to retain the Victory Bell for an eighth consecutive season. Carolina capped the regular season with a seventh win. The past two years haven't been easy for Carolina football, but taken as a single day, a single game, four quarters of football, Saturday was a good day in Kenan Stadium. It was also a good day for witnessing greatness.
Jones said he thought he might play well on Senior Day. Maybe not this well, but well. "I had a little feeling, but not a three-touchdown feeling. Maybe a touchdown and a hundred yards with a couple of catches, but to finish like this is very special. It's a special moment in my life, something I'll never forget."
The Tar Heel fans in attendance seemed to know what they were seeing. Asked to vote on a classic football highlight to be played on the video board, they chose a Jones catch at East Carolina over a Charlie Justice run and Carolina's goal-line stand against N.C. State in 2004. One gets the feeling that Dwight Jones highlights will be played on the Kenan video boards for decades to come.
Turner Walston is the managing editor of Tar Heel Monthly. Turner's weekly Tar Heel football podcast, The Walkthrough, is available on iTunes.
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