As the sun disappears over Mount Rubidoux on a cool, crisp fall evening Brady Jones sits in the stands of Wheelock Stadium, looking onto the field. In three days, he’ll take the field in the first round of the California Community Colleges Athletic Association playoffs looking to do what no other Riverside City College quarterback has done, win back-to-back state championships.
“It would mean a lot to win it all,” Jones said as he peered down at the Tigers logo painted on midfield. “Not only for me but for the guys and the coaches, they’ve all done a lot for us.”
Jones graduated from Vista Murrieta High School in 2022. There, he started his junior and senior seasons and led the Broncos to a 14-3 record in those two seasons. He threw for 38 touchdowns and nearly 3,000 yards while tossing only four interceptions.
“I felt I wasn’t as developed as I should’ve been coming out of high school,” Jones said.
Though his stats were impressive, Jones received no interest from Division I colleges. The offers he did receive came from Division II schools. The choice was then easy for Jones knowing that Riverside was home to a powerhouse junior college football team.
“I really thought this was the best fit for me,” Jones said. “I had a couple of teammates who came here so I knew there was a good coaching staff I was walking into.”
The pride of Vista Murrieta is no stranger to waiting to get his opportunity. The redshirt sophomore sat his first two seasons at RCC behind two state offensive players of the year, current BYU standout Jake Retzlaff and Sacramento State quarterback Jordan Barton.
“I came in knowing I was going to sit,” Jones said. “They had their guy (Retzlaff) so I took that year as a development year.”
It isn’t very often that you sit behind two consecutive offensive state players of the year, but Jones had that privilege, accepted the mentorship of Retzlaff and Barton, and paved his way as the next great Riverside quarterback.
“I learned a lot,” Jones said. “Not only how to play but how to carry yourself as a leader of this team, seeing what they were able to do on the field and how they treated the film room helped me a lot.”
Now his moment finally came, and he has made the most of it. Jones took home the National Southern Conference offensive Player of the Year honors behind 3723 passing yards, 47 total touchdowns, and only six interceptions, the last of which came back in week four on Sept. 28.
“We grey-shirted him to save his first year,” Tigers head coach Tom Craft said. “We saw a lot of promise in him. Then he backed up Barton last year and now he is the starter and he’s out playing all of them.”
“This year was the year to make it all shine and it’s going pretty well,” he said.
Despite the success, Jones is as cool, calm, and collected as one can be. His only worry is the next game ahead of him, which will be a rematch from three weeks ago against San Diego Mesa, a game in which he threw for 438 yards and three touchdowns in a 62-41 victory for the Tigers that clinched the NSC title.
“Right now, the focus is all on Mesa,” Jones said. “We played well last game against them, but it comes down to gameday we have to go out there and show out to get the job done.”
Craft admired Jones’ resilience and patience in the new era of college football with the transfer portal. He trusted the process and stuck it out at RCC, and his patience has paid dividends.
A lesson that Craft wishes more athletes would learn is to “get yourself in the right program, and don’t just go where you can play. He’s a tremendous example of that.”
“We didn’t even know if he was going to win the starting job coming out of fall camp,” Craft said. “We had a fall scrimmage that he played well in and that was enough for us to give him the job.
“Another reason why he won the starting job was because he was the most seasoned quarterback because he’s been here for three years.”
There is no secret sauce for Jones as he is a man of simplicity he goes through the same warmup routine every game. He arrives to the field early to lay out near the 40-yard line listening to whatever music he is feeling that day to center himself and relax before the games.
He goes through his simple throwing routine, starting with quarterbacks one one-on-one catch, to short routes with tight ends. Jones then works routes with his receivers and then 11 on-11 game-like action against his defense after stretching.
A large reason for the success of Jones and the Tigers’ offense goes to first-year offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kevin Craft, son of the head coach. Both Crafts pointed to his development of three key categories, timing, decision-making, and accuracy. Jones has displayed all at a high level this season as he leads the 3C2A in every significant passing category by a wide margin.
“He gets the checks and reads, he understands football, and he’s had a lot of training in the last two years he’s been here,” Kevin Craft said. “He got a chance to see elite quarterbacks and how they played. Even though he wasn’t ready to be the guy, he knew he was in the right program to develop, and it’s paid off. It’s fun to see the result of his dedication.”
The outlook for Jones is bright. He’s in his last year of junior college eligibility and plans to transfer to continue his football career at a university. The once under-developed and recruited kid from Murrieta now has many Division I offers ranging across the country and the FBS and FCS levels.
But Jones is focused on the present. He won’t decide until after the season is over. His motto is one play, one game at a time, and that has gotten him through two years on the bench and through his record-breaking season, which now comes down to a potential three more games in the orange and black. Three games that if he wins will etch him into immortality in Riverside.
