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OU Recruiting: Oklahoma Legacy RB Target Kaydin Jones Chooses Oklahoma State

Many assumed the son of Kejuan Jones, one of the top recruits in the state, would join the Sooners, but the Cowboys landed him instead.

John E. Hoover

Jenks running back Kaydin Jones
Jenks running back Kaydin Jones / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK
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JENKS, OK — Kaydin Jones will make his own mark on college football.

The class of 2026 running back prospect is the son of former Oklahoma Sooners star Kejuan Jones, but Kaydin has chosen a different path.

Jones announced Wednesday afternoon at Jenks High School that he has committed to play at Oklahoma State.

II think that's really important to me," Jones told Sooners On SI after his announcement. "You know, me and him as a family, obviously he would love for me to go to OU. But he has no bias. You know, he supports me through no matter where I pick. You know, he's gonna help me build my own legacy at OSU."

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Jones is a 4-star prospect by Rivals and On3 and a 3-star by 247 Sports. 

As a junior at Jenks last season, Jones rushed for 1,483 yards and 17 touchdowns. As a sophomore, he gained 1,258 yards and 15 TDs. During his freshman season at Broken Arrow, OK, Jones rushed for 1,264 yards and 11 scores. He’ll go into his senior year with 4,066 career rushing yards and 53 total touchdowns.

Jones’ dad, Kejuan, was a legendary Oklahoma high school player at Jenks, rushing for 1,725 yards and 29 touchdowns to lead the Trojans to the 6A State Championship in 2000 by averaging nearly 9 yards per carry. His highlight was an epic showdown with rival Tulsa Union, in which Jones compiled 316 yards total offense and scored five touchdowns, including the game-winning score on an 80-yard reception in the final seconds.

As a Sooner, the 5-9, 200-pound Kejuan Jones played in 51 games and rushed 605 times for 2,331 yards — 3.9 yards per carry. That included a career-best 14 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2002 and a career-high 925 yards (with 13 TDs) as a sophomore in 2003.

Jones began his junior season as the starting running back. But after Adrian Peterson broke into the lineup in 2004, Jones became Peterson’s backup. He rushed for 513 yards and five TDs in 2004 and 280 yards and four scores in 2005. Jones also caught 51 passes for 491 yards and a touchdown during his time in Norman.

But instead of Crimson and Cream, Kaydin Jones will wear OSU’s Orange and Black — at least for now.

Jones said he built a strong relationship with OU running backs coach DeMarco Murray and th Sooner coaching staff.

"They put in good effort," Jones said. "You know, I built a great relationship with the whole coaching staff. You know, Coach Murray, we were really close since my freshman year, and it was a dream to play out with OU, just like my dad. But as I got older, some things stuck out to me. And I would say that's what pushed me away from OU."

"It was a really great relationship. Open and honest. I called him a couple weeks ago and I was like, 'Coach, I'm just not interested any more. And we have that mutual respet where we can let each other know stuff like that. That's the kind of relationships you want."

Jones, who's been to Norman many times, visited Kansas on March 8, took a trip to Stillwater on March 14, and last weekend took his official visit to Vanderbilt. He had several official visits scheduled for this spring and summer, including to OU in June, but said he will now cancel those.

After he chose Tennessee, Kansas, Louisville, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt as his top five schools on Jan. 22, he amended that to add Oklahoma State. He said OSU wasn't originally in his top 11 schools before Mike Gundy made sweeping changes to his coaching staff.

"Their old coaching staff, we just didn't get off on the right foot," Jones said. "And this new coaching staff came in and they were like, 'You're a hometown guy but we gotta get you.' And that's exactly what they did."

Jones said a future game against Oklahoma "would be a dream of mine," even if it's a spring scrimmage that Gundy described earlier this week.

"No shade against them or anything," he said, "but I would love to play against them and beat them."

On3 ranks Jones as the No. 23 running back in the country and the No. 321 prospect overall. 247 Sports ranks him No. 31 among running backs and No. 394 overall. Rivals ranks him No. 7 among all-purpose running backs and does not have Jones ranked among its top 250 prospects.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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