Daniel Jones, Coach Cut and the Manning Connection
By Kalyn Kahler, Sports Illustrated
Jones committed to Princeton, the only school that had offered him, until Morris, who by then had been coaching Jones for two years, called his old coach Cutcliffe. “I know y’all got a quarterback,” Morris told him. “But you really need to check out this kid.”
Jones has a thick binder that holds all papers related to his training and draft preparation, organized neatly. There’s a divider for his schedule, a divider for his notes on different types of NFL offenses, and divider called, The QB Bonus, which houses several excerpts about quarterbacks from Bill Parcells and Bill Walsh’s books, Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “If,” and a white sheet of paper labeled Strengths and Weaknesses. In the Weaknesses column is written “being assertive.” Morris and Jones point out this is listed here because it’s a weakness that others perceive him to have, because Jones is naturally quiet and serious.
“He reminds me of Eli a little bit,” Morris says. “Somewhat soft-spoken, super competitive.” Jones knows that his reserved nature can cast doubt on his ability to lead a team, and he’s ready to combat it. “Sometimes when people first meet me they perceive my personality to be less than maybe what is typical of a guy in my position,” he says. “But I don’t think I’ve ever had an issue doing that and I feel confident in my ability to assert myself.”