The Sugar Hill, Ga., native earned a bachelor's degree in Sport Management in only three years – graduating with a 3.75 GPA – and is currently working on a master's degree in Teaching with a focus in Special Education.
Prior to the 2020 season, he was named to the Wuerffel Trophy Watch List, which is college football's premier award for community service. In 2019, he became the first WKU player to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District II distinction since tight end Jack Doyle and defensive back Arius Wright in 2011.
Jones has started all 11 games for the Hilltoppers this season and has made 27 consecutively dating back to the 2018 season. He ranks seventh on WKU with 33 total tackles, sixth with five tackles for loss and fifth with two sacks. He has also added five quarterback hurries and three pass breakups at the line of scrimmage.
After redshirting in 2017 to make the conversion from linebacker to defensive end, Jones has played in all 36 games for the Hilltoppers over the past three season with 31 starts. He has 130 total tackles – including 23.5 for loss – with 14 sacks and 19 quarterback hurries in his career on The Hill.
Offensive lineman Tyler Witt was the most recent WKU player to earn C-USA Football All-Academic honors, which he did in both the 2018 and 2017 seasons. Prior to that, a pair of Hilltoppers – punter Jake Collins and safety Marcus Ward – were voted to the team in 2014.
2020 Conference USA Football All-Academic Team
| NAME | SCHOOL | YEAR | GPA | MAJOR |
| *Tyriq Harris | Charlotte | r-Senior | 3.87 | Pre-Business Administration |
| Matt Hayball | Florida Atlantic | r-Sophomore | 3.94 | Business Finance |
| Abraham Delfin | LA Tech | r-Junior | 3.92 | Construction Engineering Technology |
| Kody Russey | LA Tech | g-Senior | 4.0 | Master's of Business Administration |
| Crews Holt | Middle Tennessee | r-Senior | 4.0 | Marketing |
| Dion Novil | North Texas | Senior | 3.51 | Integrative Studies |
| *Blaze Alldredge | Rice | Senior | 3.40 | Political Science |
| Swayze Bozeman | Southern Miss | Senior | 4.0 | Kinesiology |
| Jacob Fuqua | UAB | g-Senior | 4.0 | Master's of Education |
| Hunter Duplessis | UTSA | r-Senior | 3.77 | Information Systems/Cyber Security |
| Juwuan Jones | WKU | g-Junior | 3.75 | Master's of Teaching (Special Education) |
