Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

Southridge's Jones commits to CWU football

By Rene Ferran, Herald staff writer

Southridge senior Devin Jones has made a verbal commitment to play wide receiver for Central Washington next season.

Jones, a first-team All-CBBN Columbia selection, had 35 catches for 612 yards and five touchdowns for the Suns this season.

Jones (6-foot-3, 170 pounds) also had been talking to Western Washington before the school canceled its program earlier this month, as well as Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington as an invited walk-on.

"It's such a big relief," Jones said. "I really wanted to play football, but I didn't know what I was going to do. It's really exciting."

Teammate Taylor Powell, a linebacker who was the division's defensive MVP, committed Tuesday to Harding University, a D-II school in Searcy, Ark.

Powell (6-2, 215) also was considering CWU, but Harding was recruiting Powell's older brother, Josh, a former Shadle Park quarterback (2003-04) who was playing at Long Beach City College.

Josh tipped Harding's coaches to Taylor's potential.

"They started watching game film on me and got interested," Taylor said. "From watching Josh at Shadle, I've always wanted to play with him, and now that I'm getting the chance, I'm going to take it."