Latest Long Beach Poly star Jack Jones shines at The Opening LA regional

If you follow football at any level, you've probably heard of Long Beach Poly. Other than being the school that Snoop went to, it is the school that has produced the most NFL players out of any high school program and continually has some of the top recruits in the nation.

The top dog from Long Beach Poly last year was Iman Marshall, the number one cornerback and a top five player overall, who signed with USC. Stepping into Marshall's shoes as the top recruit from LBP for the 2016 recruiting cycle is Jack Jones. I just wrote about Jones last week on Pacific Takes as he is considered one of several big time receiver prospects from the west coast this year. He's a fantastic player after the catch that can turn short throws into big gains. (You can check out a scouting report on Jones here)

When Jones went out to The Opening regional camp in LA yesterday, I was expecting him to show out as a receiver. Instead, he went out and flipped the script balling out as a cornerback earning himself defensive back MVP honors and, more importantly, got himself an invite the The Opening in July.

This was a bit surprising considering most people consider Jones a slot receiver and because Jones played mostly safety on defense last season. With Marshall and UCLA signee Colin Samuel at cornerback last season, Jones didn't get the chance to show what he could do in man coverage with them in front of them.

He made up for lost time with his performance yesterday, picking off several passes and locking down the best wide receiver in attendance, Tyler Vaughns, on this play.

Vaughns is a 5 star player and the number two ranked receiver in the nation according to the 247Sports composite rankings, so what Jones did on this play is no joke. This and everything else he did at the camp is the kind of thing that can not only change his position when it comes to rankings by recruiting services, but programs who might have only seen him as a slot receiver likely now view him as a top cornerback prospect.

I think the assumption with most Long Beach Poly players is that they are USC's to lose, but that may not be the case with Jones. He recently gave out a top five and USC was not in it ($). That leaves the door open for every other program in the Pac-12 to take advantage of the opportunity to land Jones.

Whether he plays offense or defense at the next level, Jones showed yesterday he is legitimate candidate to play either. With Marshall leaving to attend USC, Jones gets to be Long Beach Poly's top dog in the secondary now. Yesterday he showed he can fill Marshall's shoes better than anyone thought he could.