College Park, Md., might be 1,300 miles from Nacogdoches, but that didn't stop the Maryland Terrapins from extending an offer to Dragons standout Brandon Jones.

The Terps became the 34th FBS team to extend an invitation to the Nacogdoches 2016 safety, who is considered one of the top handful of players at his position and class in the country.

Jones (6-0, 190) tweeted of this news early Saturday afternoon.

Nacogdoches safety Brandon Jones picked up a scholarship offer from Maryland on Saturday, the 34th for the talented 2016 standout. (Rob Graham, ETSN.fm)
Nacogdoches safety Brandon Jones picked up a scholarship offer from Maryland on Saturday, the 34th for the talented 2016 standout. (Rob Graham, ETSN.fm)
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Maryland, coached by Randy Edsall, just wrapped its first season as a member of the Big Ten conference, The Terps were 7-6 and 4-4 in league play in 2014, losing to Stanford, 45-21, in the Foster Farms Bowl on Dec. 30.

Jones is the first player from East Texas in recent memory to pick up an offer from Maryland, but the Terps are not the first Big Ten team to offer. Jones also has offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, national champion Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue.

The Dragons defensive back listed an early top 10 back in December -- Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas, Texas A&M, and USC -- but tweeted earlier in the week that changes might be coming to that list.

Jones was largely limited this season with an early-season knee injury, but he did participate in six of 11 games. Jones finished his personal five-game regular season with 30 tackles and two forced fumbles, including 18 tackles and one caused fumble after the injury.

That followed a breakout sophomore campaign that featured 95 tackles, five picks and three defensive touchdowns. With Jones, Nacogdoches has reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1965-66.

2016 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers

  • Demarco Boyd, RB/LB, Gilmer, 6-0, 215 — offers from Florida State, Texas (2)
  • Zach Hall, ATH, Tyler Lee, 5-11, 170 – offer from Texas Tech (1)
  • Travon Fuller, CB, Athens, 6-0, 160 — committed to Texas A&M (1)
  • Brandon Jones, S, Nacogdoches, 6-0, 190 — offers from Alabama, Arizona State,  Arkansas, Baylor, Florida State, Georgia, Houston, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Penn State, Purdue, SMU, Stanford, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Tulsa, USC, Washington State (34)
  • Braylon Jones, DT, John Tyler, 6-3, 275 – offers from Air Force, Navy (2)
  • Corey Lane, S, Nacogdoches, 5-11, 185 – offer from Louisiana Tech (1)
  • Kendrick Rogers, WR, Frankston, 6-4, 185 — offer from North Texas, SMU (2)

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