The Jaguars took a two-pronged approach to addressing their need for cornerback help in the 2024 NFL draft, selecting Jarrian Jones from Florida State in the third round and Deantre Prince from Ole Miss in the fifth round to shore up the position.
Jones and Prince proved to be playmakers in the secondary throughout their college careers, and premier athletes at the NFL combine in March, with both players clocking 4.38-second 40-yard dash results at the latter event.
In between, the duo impressed NFL scouts and onlookers at the Shrine Bowl earlier this year, aligning together on the East Team. They were two of the game’s record-breaking 57 prospects selected in the draft this year.
“I think what both Jarrian and Prince probably share as players is confidence in terms of their coverage ability, but also knowing how to use their athletic ability,” Shrine Bowl director of football operations and player personnel, Eric Galko, described Jacksonville’s newest cornerbacks in an interview with Jaguars Wire.
“Some guys are athletic and don’t know how to use it, and they’re just guessing and trying to use their athleticism and kind of recover a lot, not necessarily maximizing it. I think both these guys know where they can get to on the field in coverage.”
While each corner produced just one tackle in the all-star game, both stood out in practices leading up to the exhibition. NFL.com described Jones’ performances in the nickel as “plastering” opposing receivers; multiple independent outlets highlighted Prince’s showings in one-on-one drills.
Galko went further, analyzing how the members of the defensive back tandem pair together in the secondary as they prepare to team up again in Jacksonville.
Both are generally sound in their coverage assignments, per Galko. In the event a route-runner beats them, both can recover to make a play on the ball given their speed and agility.
“They can kind of bait a little bit when they’re out of position — I think both Prince and Jarrian Jones are rarely out of position, and if they are or they want to bait a little bit, they’ve got that athletic ability to clean up a little bit, too. So, I think those guys complement each other well.”
Jones, a four-year contributor at Florida State after spending his freshman campaign at Mississippi State, is likely to remain in the slot with Jacksonville after shining at the position with the Seminoles as a super senior in 2023.
Following four years mostly as an outside corner, the nearly-six-foot, 190-pound Jones produced single-season career-highs with 25 tackles including five for loss and three interceptions in the nickel last season.
“Jarrian’s a guy we’ve been following for a long time at Florida State,” Galko revealed. “Super talented as he, you know, showed the athleticism at the NFL combine.
“But he took such a major step this year when they asked him to move inside at slot. And he was, whether you use metrics or just watching film, like, I think he was arguably the best nickel cornerback in college football this past year, probably the best in college football.”
The Shrine Bowl offered Jones an opportunity to further prove his worth at the position, to shrug off any potential perception that his big year at the new spot was a one-off. He did just that.
“I think what he showed in college and at the Shrine Bowl, again, that when he’s inside the nickel, he’s so confident and he trusts his athletic ability,” Galko said. “That’s where I think most teams want to project him pretty quickly, too, and I think if he wasn’t the Jaguars’ pick, he wasn’t going to last much longer than the end of round three to the top of round four.”
Prince, meanwhile, was not a player Jacksonville expected to be available at its No. 153 overall pick, per Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke. Baalke believes Prince will compete for playing time in the team’s defense, he said after the draft, and Galko shares a similar sentiment.
The 6-foot, 183-pound prospect posted 146 tackles with six for loss, six interceptions, 27 passes defended and two forced fumbles over four seasons with Ole Miss, not including his bridge season at Northeast Mississippi Community College in 2020.
“Super good athlete, physical, confident kid on the perimeter. Kind of a quieter guy but really locked in, super high football IQ,” Galko noted about Prince, sharing that he was invited to the Shrine Bowl in 2023 before returning to school, too. “But uber-talented and tremendous athlete, he ran a 4.3-something I think at the combine, and that certainly shows up on film.
“He can press, get deep and play vertical too. I think if you want to run a little more man, or Cover 3 or Cover 1, he could do that a really high level in the NFL.”
Florida State owned the No. 11-ranked passing defense in the FBS last season, with Jones and second-round 2024 NFL draft pick by San Francisco, cornerback Renardo Green, leading the unit. Prince and Green combined for four interceptions and 16 passed defended in 2023.
Galko views Jones and Prince as a similarly threatening pair in Jacksonville’s defense of the future.
“If you watch Jarrian Jones and Renardo Greene with each other, if it was a two-by-two set, that side of the field was shut down,” Galko said. “That can be Prince and Jarrian for the future.”
