REGINA — University of Regina Rams offensive line coach Brett Jones is back in school — and not just in his time working with the USports Canada West football program.
The former National Football League and Canadian Football League centre earned his Bachelor of Science degree through the U of R during the offseason in his playing days and since returning to the province has joined the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine to pursue a medical degree.
Working and learning alongside future doctors and nurses might seem like the furthest thing from football imaginable, but you might be surprised, as Jones explained during a recent conversation with Barney Shynkaruk on The SportsCage radio show.
“It’s one thing I missed about the game, people that have like-minded goals and are high achievers, and I have that in the cohort of people I get to practice with and learn skills with,” said Jones, who took the field Wednesday as a guest coach with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Saskatoon. “Then I get to share that with the players I coach, I love to share different techniques I'm doing and studying for game plans. There’s the Frank McCrystal quote that football is just the beginning of your life and it's going to teach you all those skills so you can be successful, and school is a great springboard for that.”
It all started back in 2009 when Jones first suited up for the Rams, and after a stellar USports career that saw him hone his skills against future NFLers Akiem Hicks and Stefan Charles, the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders came calling in 2013.
That was step one of a lifelong dream for the Weyburn product.
“You never think it's going to happen, but for me, when I got drafted, it was something truly special and something I’m happy to have shared with my family,” Jones said.
After two successful, award-winning seasons with the Stampeders that included a Grey Cup win in 2014, Jones took the next step in his pro career, signing with the NFL’s New York Giants prior to the 2015 campaign and going on to play 61 games with New York and the Minnesota Vikings from 2016 through 2020.
The thing about reaching that culmination of success is that it can come with a sense of disbelief, especially when you’re a small-town Saskatchewan guy taking the field in front of millions of fans each and every week.
“That one definitely took a while for me, it was hard,” Jones admitted. “I hadn't done a lot of under-centre snapping and there's a lot of pressure, you get an Eli Manning back there and I don't want to jam his fingers or do something like that.”
Eventually, things began to come together and Jones’ confidence with the NFL game grew. And as he began to assert himself on the field, his coaches began to take notice.
“Once you sort of get past those days and you start stacking success and you start to believe in it, then your coaches believe in you,” Jones said. “I had great coaches whether it was here in Saskatchewan at the U of R or in the CFL and then in the NFL. I had people that believed in me and that really helped.
“Sometimes a challenge of all athletes is confidence, but that's earned and I think I had a lot of great coaches that helped me do those things. That's sort of why I like to coach today, I had great coaches who helped me live my goal and gave me the proof to believe in myself, because sometimes you just need a little kick and the belief you can do it.”
Injuries began to add up as Jones’ NFL career entered the 2021 campaign, and after being put on the injured reserve by the Denver Broncos in August due to a torn bicep, he opted to retire.
There was a thought of returning to Canada and giving it another shot in the CFL, but he and wife Amy decided that the wear and tear was just too much, and that marked the end of Jones’ playing career.
“I really wanted to and we were really close, I had almost signed the one year, but my body just didn't have it anymore,” Jones said. “That was sort of the problem and I wish I could have. My wife always wanted me to play here, but that's the one thing you have to respect about the game, it's a warrior's mentality and you got to be ready to go to battle each and every day and if you don't have it, you don't have it. That was sort of where I was at in my life and my career and I do wish I had that chance to play, it just didn't work out.”
Jones didn’t take long to get back in the game, though, joining the U of R Rams coaching staff in the 2022 campaign and he’s been with the team since, including through their recently concluded spring training camp.
As one might expect, Jones gets plenty of questions from up-and-coming players about his path to professional football, and he has a simple answer: just love the game, and it’ll take you as far as you want to go.
“I think for me, I had a special relationship with sports. It really helped build my confidence in a lot of areas of my life, but I think one of the biggest things is you don't have to tell people about your dreams as long as you have them,” Jones said. “That's one of the best things. I had a dream that I wanted to play, whether it was here at school first and then I realized that ‘hey maybe I could try the CFL’ and then ‘hey maybe I could try the NFL’.
“A lot of people don't get that privilege to be able to keep trying to find success all the time. Success is hard and those things are challenging, but just enjoy the sports for what they are, play them because you love them and you'll never regret it… I think that sport teaches you so many things, you don't realize it when you're playing it but you love those lessons when times get hard in your life because inevitably everything always does."
