University of Missouri Athletics

Corby Jones came out of Columbia’s Hickman High School and became one of the most dynamic quarterbacks to ever play for Mizzou, a true run-pass threat who will always be remembered for leading MU to bowl games (1997 Holiday and 1998 Insight.com) for the first time since 1983. He led MU to a 34-31 victory over West Virginia in the 1998 Insight.com Bowl – Mizzou's first bowl win since 1981, rushing for three touchdowns and passing for 130 yards. He became the only player in school history to rank in the top-10 in rushing, passing (dropped to 11^th in 2014), total offense and scoring. At the time of his induction, he held the school career records for points (228) and touchdowns (38) and ranked third in total offense (6,230 yards), fourth in rushing (2,533), fifth in passing (3,697 yards) and fifth in passing efficiency (119.6 rating). Corby was a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate entering his senior season, but his statistics were hampered by a lingering toe injury that limited his mobility. He played his senior year with a heavy heart after the tragic death of his father, Curtis, a Tiger assistant coach who died suddenly of a heart attack prior to the season. He still earned second-team all-Big 12 Conference honors \in 1998, despite the injury, as he passed for 1,281 yards and rushed for 536 with a team-high 20 touchdowns (11 rushing, nine passing). He was the first-team all-Big 12 quarterback as a junior in 1997, after setting a school record at the time with 2,545 yards of total offense (1,658 passing, 887 rushing), and adding 26 touchdowns (14 rushing, 12 passing). A true scholar-athlete in the finest sense of the term, Jones was one of 17 people to receive the prestigious National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award in 1998. He’s one of only 10 Tigers to earn first-team academic all-conference honors three times. He was a GTE District VII academic all-American as a senior. He played in the Hula Bowl all-star game following his senior season and played professionally with Montreal of the CFL and St. Louis in an indoor league before returning to MU to complete his law degree. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.