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14 years to the day that he and his family were suddenly moved across the globe to Charlotte, Pat Jones II officially became a Carolina Panther.
The 26-year-old outside linebacker spoke with reporters from Bank of America Stadium on Thursday, his first chat with the media since agreeing to his two-year, $20 million deal earlier in the week. Jones II, a son of a military man, recalled the "crazy experience" of having to evacuate his former home of Misawa, Japan as a result of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
"I was like 12 years old, so you could just imagine how it feels," he stated. "My dad, he was in the military, so he had to leave, he couldn't say nothing else, his ships had to go take off into the ocean 'cause the tsunami and stuff. So it was just me, my mom and my sisters.
"So we just had to get on a plane. We took about an 18-hour flight, we were in the airport for about a day, took an 18-hour flight across the ocean, landed in California, we was over there for about another day. And then we didn't really have nowhere to go, so we came here to Charlotte."
Jones already had family—his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins—living in Charlotte before the move. Then it'd be there, while in seventh grade at Piedmont Middle School in Monroe, where he realized that he wanted to play football.
And now that he's back, and playing football at the absolute highest level, Jones called his return a "full-circle moment."
"Once the Panthers came about, I just knew that this would be a place that would be good for me," he said. "It's like home for me. It's about as close to home as I can get."
This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: NFL free agency: Pat Jones signs with Panthers in 'full-circle moment'
Continue reading...
The 26-year-old outside linebacker spoke with reporters from Bank of America Stadium on Thursday, his first chat with the media since agreeing to his two-year, $20 million deal earlier in the week. Jones II, a son of a military man, recalled the "crazy experience" of having to evacuate his former home of Misawa, Japan as a result of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
"I was like 12 years old, so you could just imagine how it feels," he stated. "My dad, he was in the military, so he had to leave, he couldn't say nothing else, his ships had to go take off into the ocean 'cause the tsunami and stuff. So it was just me, my mom and my sisters.
"So we just had to get on a plane. We took about an 18-hour flight, we were in the airport for about a day, took an 18-hour flight across the ocean, landed in California, we was over there for about another day. And then we didn't really have nowhere to go, so we came here to Charlotte."
Jones already had family—his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins—living in Charlotte before the move. Then it'd be there, while in seventh grade at Piedmont Middle School in Monroe, where he realized that he wanted to play football.
And now that he's back, and playing football at the absolute highest level, Jones called his return a "full-circle moment."
"Once the Panthers came about, I just knew that this would be a place that would be good for me," he said. "It's like home for me. It's about as close to home as I can get."
This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: NFL free agency: Pat Jones signs with Panthers in 'full-circle moment'
Continue reading...
