You guys have shared a lot of great stories and names, but I want to see if anyone can top the Dre Jones story for sheer sadness. He was allegedly the first 5-star player to ever come out of El Paso and was ready to help the Longhorns reload for the 2007 season. By all reports, he was a top student in HS and the 3rd ranked DT in the country.
Somehow, impossibly, during fall camp, he is implicated in an apartment robbery along with the infamous Robert Joseph. According to the Statesman, "Jones and Joseph stole cash, cellphones and video game equipment from the residents, according to court documents." Although he always claimed he wasn't at the scene of the crime, (see the Johntay Cook thread for more on this) he was unable to clear his name, pleaded guilty, served 30 days, and never played a down for the University of Texas. This was the summer of 'Book 'Em Horns', with seven players getting arrested.
“There’s no doubt that he hooked up with the wrong crowd,” Payan said. “After (the arrest), he started to spiral out of control.”
Payan said Jones, who was no longer allowed to stay in the on-campus dormitory, had to “live out of his car. … It wasn’t a good situation for him.
Payan said he had very little contact with Jones after the player moved back to El Paso in the summer of 2008.
Jones, stripped of his athletic scholarship and possible bright future in college football, did not make a smooth transition back to his hometown.
“I always considered Andre mature for his age,” said Vanessa Burchett, who had known Jones since both were freshmen at Andress. “But I think being in Austin — a big city where he didn’t know anybody — he started hanging out with guys older than him. He wanted to be part of the crowd. In El Paso, he always stood out.”
He tried to play at UTEP, but was struck by a car and tore his knee ligaments. After a brief stint at Tarleton State, it was a steady downhill of drugs and depression. He was arrested for crack and cocaine possession in 2012.
“Andre would go on binges for months to smoke weed,” O’Neal said. “I’d ask him, ‘What are you doing? You don’t have the heart to take this.’ ” On Aug. 17, 2012, Jones was arrested; El Paso police said they found 34 grams of crack cocaine in small bags in a bedroom at his home. The case was dismissed last April.
Sepkowitz and Meitler ( his former coaches) said Jones, a regular at the Andress field house while in high school, never sought their guidance after he returned from Austin. Meitler said Jones might have been “too embarrassed” to approach them after losing his opportunity to play for the Longhorns.
In 2014, he died of an overdose at age 24.