Jones was born in Youngstown, Ohio. He attended the University of Michigan where he studied law and also played football. Jones worked in a Youngstown boiler shop for five cents an hour during his summer vacations. He was the starting fullback on Fielding H. Yost's 1902 "Point-a-Minute" football team that finished the season 11–0 and outscored opponents 644 to 12. Jones was a popular player, and in October 1902 newspaper accounts reported that he led the students in singing the "varsity yell" at a "singing bee" preceding the football game against Wisconsin. Jones was six-feet tall and weighed 170 pounds as Michigan's fullback in 1902.