By John Frierson
Staff Writer

If the last big thing Cash Jones did in a Georgia football uniform was recover a game-changing onside kick in the Bulldogs’ 35-10 runaway win over Texas last Saturday, the fifth-year senior and former walk-on would be fine with that.

“Of course,” Jones said Monday, “especially since I’m a Texas native doing that against Texas in a big game like that, a top-10 matchup. That’s like something you dream about when you’re a little kid. And I just couldn’t be happier with the result.”

If you’re reading this, you almost certainly know what happened inside Sanford Stadium late Saturday night, but here’s a quick recap. The then-fifth-ranked Bulldogs (now No. 4) had taken a 21-10 lead on the Longhorns (then No. 10, now No. 17) early in the fourth quarter. Georgia had the momentum, but Texas was the preseason No. 1 team in the country for a reason: it’s a team with a lot of talent.

One of those talented guys is return man Ryan Niblett, who had a 59-yarder in the second quarter. Georgia coach Kirby Smart didn’t want the ball in Niblett’s hands again, he said postgame, and the Bulldogs had an onside kick play that the team had practiced for years. After the game, Smart said that Jones had practiced the play about 250 times in his career, “but I think it’s more like over 1,000,” Jones said.

All of that practice for a “little walk-on kid from Texas,” as Smart called Jones postgame, paid off.

Once Smart gave the go-ahead to do the onside kick, kicker Peyton Woodring delivered a perfect strike — more of a tap, really — to the right side. That oblong ball, which seldom does what anyone expects, bounced perfectly into the hands of a running Jones. If they hadn’t changed the rule prohibiting teams from advancing an onside kick recovery, Jones might have scored on the play. Instead, he did “a little hop of joy,” as Jones described it, and then went down on Dooley Field so he wouldn’t get hit by a Texas player.

“I’m glad that I did all those reps for that one,” Jones said. “It makes it all worth it.”

While Jones wasn’t sure the Bulldogs were going to do the onside kick against Texas, he said Smart had “made a little bit more of an emphasis on it” last week. Georgia has practiced that kick for as long as Jones has been at UGA. Initially, he said, former standout defensive back Javon Bullard was the guy assigned to recover the ball. After Bullard went on to the NFL, Jones took over the role.

“I’ve had times when it just bounced off my facemask, or it bounced high initially and then you think it’s going to bounce high again, but it stays low and bounced off my feet,” Jones said of the many attempts in practice over the years. “My first time doing it, I was going to pick it up, and I tripped.

“All kinds of stuff have happened, but that was probably our best-executed one ever.”

Jones, a 5-foot-11 and 195-pound running back from Brock, Texas, is a humble guy with a very strong faith. “I think that was just a God thing. By the grace of God, He just helped us on that play,” Jones said, later adding that Woodring “kicked the perfect ball; I’m just the one who grabbed it.”

This Saturday, the Bulldogs host Charlotte in the final home game of the regular season. Georgia might still host a College Football Playoff game in December, but nobody knows at this point. Jones does know that this is his final season with the Bulldogs. Before he walked on back in 2021, he dreamt of having a career like the one he’s had. With the help of a lot of people, from his family to Smart to former running backs coach Dell McGee, Jones has made that dream come true.

“I had a lot of people that doubted me when I was younger; told me I wasn’t big enough, wasn’t fast enough, strong enough, that I’d never play at Georgia,” Jones said. “I kind of turned that negative energy into fuel to push me to be better.”

Jones was on the scout team in 2021, going up against one of the best collegiate defenses ever each day in practice. There were beasts like Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter up front, and then even more future NFL guys like Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker at linebacker. For an undersized kid trying to make an impression on his teammates and the coaches, it was a tough challenge.

“I was like, I’m not built for this,” Jones said. “That made me really tough.”

Jones credited his older brother, Tripp, with initially making him tough.

“He used to beat up on me when I was younger, him being the older brother, so I definitely took some good licks,” he said with a laugh.

McGee, now the head coach at Georgia State, had a huge impact on Jones. McGee coached him, encouraged him, and believed in him, even when Jones thought he was “probably done” after his first year. “I was like, I don’t know if I can take another year on scout team,” he said.

It was McGee who reminded Jones of all the progress he’d been making. Jones had put on some muscle after showing up weighing about 160 pounds, and he’d improved as a running back by going up against the best defense in the country all season.

“He really was a good leader, a really good coach, and I liked him a lot,” Jones said. “I still talk to him to this day. He’s one of my good friends. I want the best for him — he’s a great man, great Christian, and a great dad.”

When McGee left for Georgia State in February 2024, Jones contemplated going with him, since it might give him the chance to be a featured back for the Panthers rather than a backup for the Bulldogs. But he never seriously considered it.

“I just felt like it was best for me to stay here. My career was starting to pick up a little bit more, and I have a lot of friends here,” he said. “It’s hard to leave your friends, and I have this bond with Georgia now. It’s part of me. I’ve been here for 1,631 days — I looked it up the other day.”

More than 20% of Jones’ life has been spent as a Georgia Bulldog. He’s been on two national championship teams, won two SEC titles, played in 50 games, and gained more than 700 yards combined on the ground and receiving, with nine touchdowns. And last Saturday, he was a critical part of a play that will be talked about for a long, long time.

“The best decision I ever made was to come here,” he said. “I just couldn’t be happier.”

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.