June Jones has been known as an innovator of offense as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and San Diego Chargers and Hawaii and SMU in college football. His next protege: Taulia Tagovailoa.
Jones has taken on the role of offensive coordinator at Kapolei High in Hawaii to work with longtime friend Darren Hernandez, the team’s head coach. Kapolei has been known for having a strong defense. Now Jones and Tagovailoa are hoping to find more balance.
Jones replaces Tagavailoa’s father, who is stepping aside to watch his two sons play. Taulia is a sophomore to be and his older brother Tua, a senior to be starting QB at Saint Louis who has nearly 20 college offers and is coveted by a number of Pac-12 and SEC schools.
Jones, who last coached in 2014 at SMU other than the East-West Shrine Game in January, said he spent two days a week last season at Saint Louis practices and watched Tua, calling him “one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country.”
Jones is known for the run and shoot and Hernandez told HawaiiPrepWorld.com that the team’s offense will feature “definitely a lot of elements from what June did previously, no doubt about it. There’s a lot of principals of the run-and-shoot that begins and ends with the four-wide look, and that’s going to be our identity.”
Jones has spent a lot of time in the first part of spring football with the offensive line. The team has been on the field for a little bit more than a week. He said he’s looking forward to giving back to the kids and has been enjoying the chance to be on the practice field.
“What we do, the offensive line has to be the key and I really think Taulia is going to be a very, very good quarterback,” Jones told hawaiiprepworld.com. I can already tell that, and so we’ve got to be able to keep them (opposing defenses) off of him. But he’s very smart and he knows where to go with the ball. I can already see that he has the passing skills, so it’s going to be real fun to get it all together.”
Taulia was offered a scholarship in January by the University of Hawaii and more are sure to follow.
“As a 14-year old last year, he threw 73 passes in one game, a high school game as a true freshman. That’s pretty incredible. He’s got the talent, and as I told him, the team success has to have priority over personal success and as long as he keeps that focus and stays humble, I think he’s going to be a really good player.”
Having a mentor like Jones can’t hurt.