By STEPHEN HAWKINS
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
Associated Press
WACO, Texas — Aaron Jones is getting his kicks in Baylor’s point-a-minute offense.
After all those touchdowns by the third-ranked Bears comes an extra point. With nine more in the last game, Jones became the NCAA career leader with 260 made PATs. He also has the longest-active streak with 175 made in a row, including all 68 this season.
“He’s getting a lot of opportunities, first and foremost, which is a good thing,” coach Art Briles said. “Secondly, it does speak to his consistency, without question.”
Jones is averaging 7.6 extra points a game this season for the Bears (9-0, 6-0 Big 12), who are on pace for a major college record with 61.2 points a game. His career average is 5.4, with multiple PATs in all but one of his 48 games.
“Obviously it’s a great honor to put my name in the NCAA record books. But really it’s a credit to the offense, especially this year the defense and special teams (scoring touchdowns),” Jones said. “It’s a team effort. I’m just glad to be part of a team like this. … It’s really all them. It’s an easy thing for me.”
Add in his school-record 53 field goals, and Jones has 419 career points. That nearly doubles the previous Baylor record of 220 points that had stood for three decades.
Jones went to Baylor as a walk-on kicker after turning down offers from smaller schools to play soccer, the sport he had been involved in since age 4. His parents didn’t let him go out for football until he was in seventh grade.
“I really enjoyed my time when it came time to visit (Baylor),” he said. “None of the soccer schools really were calling my name. So I chose here, and it’s worked out really well.”
His 10 extra points in Baylor’s 70-13 victory against Louisiana-Monroe set a school record, and is among five games this season when he has kicked at least nine. He had six extra points and three field goals last month against Iowa State, a 71-7 win in which he had a career-high 15 points.
Oh, and the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Jones also kicks off for the Bears, who play Saturday night at No. 11 Oklahoma State (9-1, 6-1).
Jones surpassed the previous NCAA record of 253 made PATS by Art Carmody (Louisville, 2004-07) on Saturday night against Texas Tech. His streak of 175 in a row is over a 28-game span since his last miss midway through his sophomore season.
A game two years ago against the Red Raiders in the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium also stands out for Jones: He had nine extra points, a field goal (on two attempts) and kicked off 11 times.
“I was playing nonstop, always warming up and getting worn out. That’s the most tired I’ve ever been,” Jones said. “I run down on kickoffs too. I help cover. … I get worn out sometimes.”
Jones earned the kicking job in the spring of 2010 after his redshirt season, when he remembers Briles watching over an open competition before practice each day to determine who would be the kicker that day.
“He just proved himself,” Briles said. “We’d set the ball at different areas, and time how quickly they got the kick off. Aaron’s really fast getting the ball off, and then he got the ball up high which cuts down the chance for blocks. He was more accurate than the other guys on a consistent basis. That makes coaching kind of easy because it’s all visible. … He earned everything he’s got.”