Get To Know Your Orange Man - #77, NT Zian Jones

The Get To Know Your Orange Man series continues its summer run...

Name: Zian Jones

Position: Nose Tackle

Year: Senior

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 315

Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.

High School: Eagle Rock High School/West Los Angeles College

2012 Stats: In four appearances last year, Zian recorded seven tackles for the Orange. His best effort was probably in the season finale against Temple, where he had two solo tackles.

2013 Projections: Jones is a big guy -- among the bigger defensive linemen SU has, actually -- so it's very likely he'll see increased playing time this fall. He's unlikely to start as long as Eric Crume, Jay Bromley and John Raymon are healthy, but expect him to be a significant part of the rotation just the same. Will be interesting to see if he can actually get some penetration into the backfield this season, after making all of his stops at or past the line of scrimmage in 2012.

How'd He Get Here?: Syracuse beat out FBS worldbeaters Eastern Michigan and New Mexico State for the JUCO transfer's services. While he was at West L.A. College in 2011, he racked up 45 tackles (including 15 for a loss) -- not too shabby, which makes it a bit surprising he didn't get more interest from some bigger schools (though he had originally planned to visit San Diego State and Fresno State as well).

What'd Scout/Rivals Say?: Scout said two stars, while Rivals said three.

Money Quote: Defensive line coach Tim Daoust has an interesting take on Jones, as he told Syracuse.com last September:

“I’ll tell you what, (Jones) has maybe the loosest hips of all of them, the big fella.”

Links of Wonder: Is Jones still part of "the Meat" of the offensive line? He sure was last fall. I'd like to see this monicker return, and I'm sure many others agree. What's more hard-nosed than meat? And how did we forget Sean's suggestion to call Scott Shafer "the Butcher?"

What Does Shafer Think: In typical Scott Shafer fashion, he's a man of few, simple words. None of them were interesting enough to include here, but FHCDM shared an interesting tidbit when Jones signed with SU:

"It’s very difficult for us to bring in people with size. We’ve had issues with that trying to find enough players in this area with size. For us to have to go to junior college to get a player like Zian Jones or Markus Pierce-Brewster, people who have been established that have done a very good job is going to help our football team."

Interesting Nugget O'Interest: Jones's former position coach at West L.A. College compared him to Warren Sapp once. I'd like this comparison to be accurate this season. How about you guys?

Let Us Get a Good Look Atchya: Here's some game film from 2011 that shows Jones looking like a bat of hell immediately after the ball's snapped. We didn't see much of that in your limited time on the field last year, Zian. Let's do some more of the whole "applying terrifying amounts of pressure"-thing this season.