http://wap.myfoxhouston.com/w/main/story/13308208/
MARK BERMAN
Houston-- With no thanks to Alabama head coach Nick Saban, Houston Texans receiver Jacoby Jones will get a chance to thrill the home folks Saturday night at the Superdome in New Orleans when the Texans take on the Saints in the second game of the preseason.
Jones, in his fourth year in the NFL with the Texans, grew up about ten miles from the Saints home stadium and his mother still lives in the same New Orleans home.
When Jones was a kid he liked to go to football camps including one run by then-LSU head coach Nick Saban.
"The last year that he had gone to one of his camps he gets this award or certificate that talks about his skills and techniques, but Nick Saban told him 'you have great ability and you have great skills as an athlete, but you're too small. You will never play professional football,'" Emily Jones said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports.
"That stayed with Jacoby and made it a goal for him to be successful."
Emily Jones acknowledged Saban's harsh words hurt her son.
"I think it did, but being a boy, being a guy, he kept it in, but he didn't tell me that until later," Emily Jones said.
"I would have called Nick Saban and said 'I'm paying money to send my child to your camp. Don't do that to him.'"
Obviously Jacoby didn't allow his conversation with Saban to get him off track.
A few years later, while starring as a junior at Lane College, Emily Jones remembers how her son almost single-handedly beat Morehouse College.
At the time one of Morehouse's runningbacks was John David Wasington, son of Denzel Washington.
Jones made a solid impression on the Academy Award-winning actor.
"At the end of the game Denzel Washington called Jacoby over to her him and said, 'son I expect to see you on Sunday,'" Emily Jones said.
"When Jacoby came back over to me I said, 'Jacoby what did he want'? He said, 'he expects to see me on Sunday.' I said, 'what does that mean'?
"He said, 'to play professional football.' I said 'son, are you that good'? He said, 'I guess so mom. I don't know. I just love to play football.'"
John David Washington was not privy to the conversation his father had with Jacoby Jones, but he clearly recalls the game and why his school lost that day.
"I just remember this phenominal athlete who did it all and caught everything," John David Washington said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports.
"It was very frustrating watching from the sidelines."
John David Washington, who was on the St. Louis Rams practice squad for two years, is now a runningback with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the United Football League.
Jacoby Jones is in the NFL, where John David Washington hopes to return some day.
"I'm just so proud of him," John David Washington said. "He came from that small school and made the most of his opportunity.
"He represents a lot of small colleges with his work ethic. It's a good testament to what a humble, hard working man can accomplish."
Emily Jones knows what she would say if she had the chance to speak with Saban.
"Eat your words," Emily Jones said laughing. "Look at where he is today."
