The New York Riptide announced the signing of Myles Jones to a protected practice player contract for the NLL team on Monday. The deal is pending league approval.
Here’s an excerpt from the statement from the Riptide:
The New York Riptide announced today that Myles Jones has been signed to a protected practice player contract. The deal is pending league approval.
“We’re excited to have Myles as part of our organization,” Riptide head coach and general manager Regy Thorpe said. “He is a guy that we’ve had at training camps for US Indoor over the past few years. He doesn’t have a lot of box experience but he has a lot upside and wants to learn and evolve his game. His size, speed and athleticism will fit in well with our team.”
Jones is an incredible athlete, listed at 6-foot 5-inches and weighing-in at 260 pounds and has been since high school. In high school, he earned league MVP, all-Long Island, all-league and all-county honors on the basketball court and was an all-league and all-county quarterback in addition to the recognition he garnered for playing lacrosse.
The potential upside for the Riptide by signing Jones to the squad is certainly intriguing. Jones has incredible athleticism — as mentioned —and his physical style of play would fit in nicely in a box lacrosse setting. Jones has limited box experience but Riptide head coach and general manager Regy Thorpe has an incredible reputation in the box lacrosse world and would likely be able to give Jones a great shot at being successful in the NLL.
As Ryan Conwell noted when Thorpe was first brought in by the Riptide that the move would “not only serve as a catalyst for developing box talent in the U.S., but also is smart because Thorpe is just a great person that can lead this new organization.”
For those unfamiliar with Myles Jones, here’s a brief bit of information about his career:
Jones was a two-time national champion at Duke (2013, 2014) and was a three-time All-American. He was also a Tewaaraton finalist during both his junior and senior seasons in 2015 and 2016 and holds the career and single-season points records for a midfielder at Duke. Jones currently plays in the Premier Lacrosse League and had 21 points in the league’s first season last summer.
