Duece Jones-Drew hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps and reach the NFL one day.
On Tuesday, the 16-year-old son of former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew accomplished one of his dad’s goals by playing in London.
In fact, Duece’s team won the game, doing even better than Maurice did when he played at Wembley Stadium in 2013 and 2014.
“Definitely going to have a little trash talk at the house about that,” said Duece, a sophomore running back at De La Salle High School in Concord, California, after his team beat the NFL Academy 31-9.
The game took place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium under the lights. “Twelve-hour flight that we had to get here, it all paid off in the end,” Duece said.
Maurice Jones-Drew played twice in London. In 2013, the Jaguars lost 42-10 to the San Francisco 49ers. That was the last of his eight seasons with Jacksonville.
His final season was in 2014 with the Oakland Raiders, who lost to the Miami Dolphins 38-14 in London. Both games were held at Wembley.
“It’s always special when you are able to share these experiences with your kids,” said Jones-Drew, who is an assistant coach for De La Salle. “He’s happy, he had a good time. Got some great carries, ran hard.”
He doesn’t expect much trash talking: “My older one is very humble and modest.”
Jones-Drew retired after the 2014 season and started working as a commentator. He holds Jacksonville’s record for most rushing yards in a single season (1,606 in 2011).
Launched in 2019, the NFL Academy’s team includes teenagers from all over Europe and some from Africa. Twenty alumni are currently playing at Division I schools, including Tennessee defensive lineman Emmanuel Okoye and Oklahoma offensive tackle Daniel Akinkunmi.
The academy has been adding U.S. teams to its schedule to give their players a chance to compete at a higher level. Both teams are connected to Nike, which helped set up the game.
“They’re sound. They’re physical. Some of the hits were big hits,” Jones-Drew said.
