This Boise State safety is focused on legacy, Mountain West championship in final season
Boise State safety Tyreque Jones never had the luxury of focusing on one position in high school.
Jones played quarterback and wide receiver at Kaiser High in California before transferring to nearby San Gorgonio, where he starred at wide receiver and defensive back — posting 77 tackles and two interceptions and hauling in 52 passes for 1,128 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior.
That changed the moment he joined the Boise State football team in 2017.
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound safety has devoted all of his energy to mastering the position. Now a sixth-year senior, he has become a fixture in the Broncos’ secondary, Boise State defensive coordinator Spencer Danielson said.
“He’s become one of the biggest leaders on our defense, both vocally and by just doing the right thing,” Danielson told the Statesman. “He’s got that mentality where he’s humble and hungry. He still has things to clean up, he knows it and he’s excited to do that.”
Jones — who has appeared in 44 games and started 26 since 2018 — said he’s grown in countless ways on and off the field in the past five years, but the skills he’s most proud to have developed have more to do with leadership than tackles.
“My position demands a lot as far as setting the coverage and making sure the defense is all on the same page,” Jones said. “I’ve grown a lot when it comes to maturity, leadership and just knowing the defense. I can help anybody on the field.”
Jones said he’s had no shortage of role models since joining the Broncos. He learned from former Boise State safeties Kekoa Nawahine, Jordan Happle, DeAndre Pierce and Evan Tyler. Now in his final season of eligibility, Jones finds himself in their shoes, with young safeties Seyi Oladipo, Rodney Robinson and Zion Washington looking to him to lead the way.
Ensuring Boise State’s next generation of safeties is prepared to carry the torch lit by former Broncos Quintin Mikell, George Iloka and Jeron Johnson was part of what convinced Jones to return this year as one of the Broncos’ 11 super seniors.
“I’m not done here,” Jones said. “I have a lot to leave as far as my legacy, and I have an impact to make on the younger guys coming up.”
Jones said coming back for a sixth year wasn’t an easy decision. He described it as a long process and said it involved a lot of prayer. He also said the chance to share the field with senior safety JL Skinner for another season helped ease his burden.
The duo only spoke about their plans for this season once before announcing their intentions, Jones said. But that was all it took. Skinner took to Twitter to declare his return on Dec. 19. Jones did the same on Christmas Day.
“Once we connected and got on the same page, we were like, ‘All right, let’s do it,’ ” said Jones, who has shared the field with Skinner as a starter the past two seasons. “It takes a lot of stress off how we run the show on the back end. I can rely on him to take care of what he needs to take care of, and he knows he can rely on me to do the same in all aspects.”
Jones and Skinner combined for 145 tackles, 11 pass breakups and four interceptions last season, finishing the year with two picks apiece. Skinner almost certainly would have heard his name called in this year’s NFL Draft had he decided not to return, and Jones likely would have found himself in position to compete for a spot on an NFL roster.
Both decided to come back for another season, and Boise State coach Andy Avalos couldn’t be more grateful.
“They’re operating at an elite level,” Avalos told the Idaho Statesman. “The way Tyreque has grown and improved over the last year is unbelievable. And we’re all aware of the opportunity and decision JL had to make this year. They both want to continue to grow themselves and help the team grow, and the fact is neither of them wanted to miss what we’re going to do in 2022.”
Both safeties are coming off the most productive seasons of their careers. Jones posted career highs in tackles (53) and interceptions (two) last fall. Skinner led the team with a career-high 92 tackles and set career highs in tackles for loss (seven) and interceptions (two).
They were both among the most improved tacklers on the team last season, but Jones’ growth as a run-stopper was unmistakable. He missed some tackles by a wide margin in the season opener at UCF, but he may have been the Broncos’ surest tackler during the final month of the season.
“You could see it in the way he was attacking drills and stealing every rep he could in practice,” Boise State safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Kane Ioane said. “In the end, we saw the results on Saturdays. Every weekend, you knew there was a big hit coming from No. 21, and not just big collisions but great form tackles that knock ball carriers backward.”
Jones and Skinner are both likely to find themselves in the conversation surrounding the 2023 NFL Draft, but Jones said he isn’t thinking about that right now. He’s more focused on how his college career is going to end.
“Our goal is the same as it always is,” he said. “Win a Mountain West championship and bowl game with class, integrity and academic excellence.”
