Nobody threw a flag on you

Don't make Parker Jones the scapegoat. We all make mistakes.

I don’t know Parker Jones, the kid with two last names.

Until a week ago, I didn’t know he existed.

I now know he is from Albany, where they filmed one of those feel-good football movies called “Facing the Giants.’’ I know he played football at Deerfield Christian Academy. He wasn’t highly recruited out of high school. There weren’t many stars by his name.

I now know he is a redshirt sophomore defensive back for the Georgia Bulldogs. He may be stuck in the depths of the depth chart, but he seems like the kind of “team player” every coach loves to have on the roster.

And I now know he wears No. 39. 

Heck, the world now knows it, too.

No. 39 is the same number worn by one of the most beloved Georgia players of all time – Mike Castronis.  He was an All-American in the 1940s,  but may be best known as the longtime director of the legendary Athens Y Camp for boys in Tallulah Falls.

(To show you how times have changed, Castronis was 5-foot-11, 195 pounds and they stuck him on the defensive line. Jones is 5-foot-11, 190 and plays cornerback.)

Jones couldn’t even claim No. 39 as his exclusive jersey. He shared the number on the roster with sophomore wide receiver Miles Thornton.

He was wearing the red jersey, but was not dressed out for Georgia’s College Football Playoff game against Notre Dame on Thursday, Jan. 2.

But his personal NIL – Name, Image and Likeness – has been splashed across TV screens and trending on social media for the past week.