Jones Heading Back Home To Utah Valley

Jet Jones C / 1B / Londonderry Senior High School, NH / 2025

LONDONDERRY, N.H. - The third time was the charm for Jet Jones. The Londonderry High School senior will be heading back “home” after high school graduation following a college commitment to Utah Valley.

“It started with a PBR showcase my sophomore year,” reflected Jones, who is originally from Utah but moved to the northeast in first grade. “Coach got my numbers from that and I thought I was ready to go to one of their camps. They said ‘I was good but not ready, keep working. A second time they said ‘I was good but not ready, keep working.”

The fourth-rated 2025 catcher in New England then made the decision to turn his attention elsewhere.

“I decided to give up on Utah Valley and focus on other schools from the Future Games and showcases,” Jones explained. “But when their coach left I decided to go back a third time. They saw my progress and decided to give me an offer.”

Youngstown State, UMass Boston and Endicott joined Utah Valley in the final four choices for the Londonderry High School senior.

“I went to the Future Games and had a lot of interest from schools on the east coast,” related the seventh-ranked 2025 in New Hampshire, with Northeastern and George Mason among the colleges. “There were a lot of good programs but they didn’t have my major.”

The desire to follow in the footsteps of his father, a pilot, led to other potential schools.

“Fall of my junior year I went to Florida for an event and started talking with Navy and Army, two good options that offered aviation.”

But Jones kept coming back to the university in the state he was born.

“Utah Valley has one of the best aviation programs and it’s beautiful there,” Jones reasoned. “It made sense to me.”

The new staff at Utah Valley saw a lot of promise in the number one rated senior catcher in New Hampshire.

“They like my projectability,” Jones explained. “They see a 6-3 catcher that’s improved a lot. I’m a lot better than two years ago, even a lot better than the start of high school ball this year. My bat’s been a big selling point for a lot of coaches, but they see stuff they can work with catching.”

A 190-pounder with 94 exit velo as a sophomore, “my defense had holes behind the plate,” Jones noted. “I went from 195 to 230 this winter, then dropped to 214, lean and muscular. My exit velo went up to 98 and I fixed my defensive holes and that helped me get an offer.”

It was, admittedly, a long recruiting process.

“The Senior Future Games and Future Games were definitely big confidence boosters for me personally,” Jones said. “It showed schools were interested in me, that I just had to get better.”

There was more that stood out about his recruitment.

“The good part is I grew with my social skills,” the 17-year-old explained. “Phone calls were hard, I gave very robotic answers at first, but that got better. The bad was schools reached out but never followed up and I’m thinking ‘what am I doing wrong.’ I had calls where they said we like you as a player and your grades are good but they wouldn’t have me on a visit. That made me overthink a lot and led me to figure out what I was doing wrong. That bad led to growth. I was able to track my progress from PBR sophomore year and it showed I’m not regressing.”

Jones, whose parents both attended Utah Valley, is confident he can be an asset to the Western Athletic Conference program.

“I’ll bring a strong work ethic and let's win as a team mentality,” the 49th-ranked 2025 in New England noted. “I want to be remembered as the hardest worker in the room. It’s okay to lose, but if you’re being outworked that’s the real issue.”

Jones, who was named after martial artist Jet Li (not because his father is a pilot and works for the company JetBlue as many assume), is excited about what lies ahead.

“Committing made me happy, it’s my dream school, but there is still work to do,” Jones explained. “You have a road laid out in front of you but you have to work toward it.

“I’m looking forward to going there and winning, being a part of a solid group of guys that also want to win,” added Jones, who had a 3.7 GPA this past school year and now is at a 3.3 cumulative. “I want to go there and win and get a degree.”