Velus Jones Jr.

Former wide receiver at USC. 2021: 62 catches, 807 receiving yards, 7 TD.

WR · USC · Sr. · #1

6′0″ · 200 lb · Saraland, AL

CFB Index 70 · #67 of 468 WRsHigh confidenceChicago — drafted 2022, Rd 3, Pick 7, #71 overall

Recruiting

3★

WR recruit

No. 455 nationally · Signed with USC

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former wide receiver at USC. 2021: 62 catches, 807 receiving yards, 7 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to USC in 2016.
Drafted round 3 by the Chicago in 2022.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Tennessee, 1,434 receiving yards — drafted at #71 overall by Chicago.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

The week the volume broke through — put up 125 yds at Vanderbilt.Vanderbilt · W 42-172020

2016

Signed with USC3-star out of Saraland

202112 games

All-SEC

2022

Drafted by Chicagoround 3, pick 71

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#455 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2017–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

R3 · #71

Chicago · 2022

Coaching lineage · 2017–2021

2 coaches

2017–2020

Clay Helton

USC

2021

Donte Williams

USC

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Clay Helton → Donte Williams. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

ChicagoEntering 5th NFL season

#71Rd 3 · Pick 7

ChicagoEntering 5th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2017USC11-3HC: Clay Helton · Balanced

2018USC5-7HC: Clay Helton · Balanced

2019USC8-5HC: Clay Helton · Pass-leaning

2020Tennessee3-7HC: Jeremy Pruitt · Run-leaning

2021Tennessee4-8HC: Donte Williams · Balanced, fast tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the WR cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

70Quality starter #67 of 468?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: rec tds (89th percentile). Strength: receptions (89th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#170 / 655 · 74th pct

9.2%

Catch rate#187 / 655 · 71st pct

81.6%

EPA / target#188 / 655 · 71st pct

0.83

Explosive rate#221 / 655 · 66th pct

15.8%

Yards / catch#286 / 655 · 56th pct

13.0

Box-score rates (8)

Rec TDs#51 / 557 · 89th pct

Receptions#60 / 557 · 89th pct

Rec yards#68 / 557 · 88th pct

807

Long catch#79 / 557 · 85th pct

Rush yards#122 / 273 · 54th pct

Yards / catch#289 / 557 · 47th pct

13.0

Rush TDs#57 / 273 · 40th pct

Fumbles lost#89 / 223 · 36th pct

Season trend

EPA / target— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Explosive rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Catch rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

TD rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Yards / catch— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2021 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home8g	4.2	57.6	14.1	0.4
Road4g	4.5	65.2	14.7	0.8

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	4.0	62.1	16.2	0.4
Weeks 8+5g	4.8	57.4	11.9	0.6

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Lincoln Riley

Pass share

46.0%

97 pass / 114 run

Plays / game

70.3

3 games

Team sack rate

2.0%

102 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Awards

Player standing · 2021

Part-time starter

Splitting first-team reps — starts some weeks, rotates others.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

70 · #67 of 468 WRs

Three-star recruit. Now #67 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	USC	62	807	13.0	7	--
2020	Tennessee	22	280	12.7	3	--
2019	USC	6	35	5.8	0	--
2018	USC	24	266	11.1	1	--
2017	USC	6	46	7.7	0	--
Career		120	1,434	11.9	11	--

Season	Team
2021	USC	1	15	628	272	--
2020	Tennessee	3	16	398	--	--
2019	USC	--	--	704	--	--
2018	USC	6	13	483	1	--
2017	USC	5	15	760	--	--
Career		15	59	2,973	273	--

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 10 · Kentucky · 3&7 · Q1 · EPA +6.93Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 72 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 3 · Tennessee Tech · 4&3 · Q2 · EPA +5.70Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 45 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 5 · Missouri · 3&12 · Q2 · EPA +4.82Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 35 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 12 · South Alabama · 3&12 · Q3 · EPA +3.89Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 41 yds to the SAlab 6 for a 1ST down
Week 7 · Ole Miss · 3&12 · Q3 · EPA +3.42Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 29 yds to the Miss 1 for a 1ST down OLE MISS Penalty, Defensive Offside (Jahcour Pearson) declined for a 1ST down
Week 6 · South Carolina · 3&7 · Q1 · EPA +3.29Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 21 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 6 · South Carolina · 2&10 · Q1 · EPA +3.03Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 24 yds to the SCaro 42 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Alabama · 3&7 · Q1 · EPA +2.90Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 8 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 11 · Georgia · 3&3 · Q1 · EPA +2.70Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 9 yds for a TD, (Chase McGrath KICK)
Week 1 · Purdue · 2&5 · Q3 · EPA +2.54Hendon Hooker pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 15 yds for a TD (Chase McGrath KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 38-6vs Bowling Green	—	—	—	—	—
Wk 2	L 34-41vs Pittsburgh	3	31	10.3	0	16
Wk 3	W 56-0vs Tennessee Tech	3	65	21.7	1	45
Wk 4	L 14-38@ Florida	3	64	21.3	0	37
Wk 5	W 62-24@ Missouri	7	79	11.3	1	35
Wk 6	W 45-20vs South Carolina	6	103	17.2	1	31	Season-high 103 yds
Wk 7	L 26-31vs Ole Miss	6	93	15.5	0	30
Wk 8	L 24-52@ Alabama	3	18	6.0	1	8
Wk 10	W 45-42@ Kentucky	5	100	20.0	1	72
Wk 11	L 17-41vs Georgia	8	44	5.5	1	11
Wk 12	W 60-14vs South Alabama	6	103	17.2	0	41
Wk 13	W 45-21vs Vanderbilt	2	22	11.0	0	15
Total		52	722	14.3	6	72

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology