Recruiting: Jones 2026 QB Dereon Coleman maturing as a leader
ORLANDO — Jones is Dereon Coleman’s team now.
There’s no more splitting time at quarterback, like he had to do last season with Trever Jackson (who enrolled early at Florida State).
There also are no more jitters about being a young kid trying to find his voice at one of the state’s top programs.
The former may provide a level of comfort, but the latter is perhaps the biggest area of improvement for one of the state’s top rising juniors.
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“My mentality is way different,” Coleman said Friday. “Of course, I feel stronger, I put on a lot of weight. I feel like I improved my leadership, everybody listens to me on the team on and off the field. They want to listen to what I say. They ask me. I feel like I’ve improved in every aspect of the game.
“(Last spring) I was a shy kid. I wasn’t really the voice. I was scared to be a leader since I was a freshman. But once the fall came through, I started picking up the leadership with the guys.”
Jones coach Elijah Williams said while Coleman is physically bigger — he’s up to 165 pounds with the goal of adding 20 more — the change in his approach is what’s most exciting.
“It’s more so the off the field stuff,” Williams said. “He has a live arm. It doesn’t take long to recognize the talent. The most growth I’ve seen is off the field. In the locker room. In the weight room. At the school. He was a little immature, a little playful when he came here. He was a freshman. But he grew up so fast. He is one of the first underclassmen to get up and lead our team in stretches. It’s always been seniors since I’ve been coaching. That is a huge notion of how far he’s came as just a 10th grader that he’s a leader of our team.”
Leadership is something Williams demands of his quarterback. He preaches the position is more than go on the field and call the play.
It’s knowing when and how to say something and recognizing that being the quarterback carries a certain weight.
“He’s improved in being a quarterback all the time,” Williams said. “Quarterback is at the water break this guy is down and you need him, (say) encouraging words. Quarterback is a guy coming late to workouts and he’s on your offensive line. Don’t wait for the coaches to get on him. You have a different type of relationship with those type of kids. He’s been learning the other things, how to control the room. Your voice matters. They look at you, you have to be the example and the voice.”
As far as Williams is concerned, the leadership component was the final piece of the puzzle for Coleman, who already has the physical ability colleges covet at the game's most important position.
The 6-foot-1 Coleman completed 63.4 percent of his passes last season for 2,236 yards and 16 touchdowns. He added 247 yards and four rushing scores.
Coleman saw his recruitment pick up late in the season and has offers from several of the nation’s top programs. He said UCF, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Texas A&M are the schools currently showing the most interest. Coleman plans to announce his top schools list after Jones’ spring game.
“What I’m looking for is a school that will let me be myself,” Coleman said. “I want to play early, too. What they can do for me and what I can do for them. Let me be myself and let me be a leader. And the culture. Culture is everything to me. And faith.”
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Recruiting: Jones 2026 QB Dereon Coleman maturing as a leader
