Ohio State gets the guy they wanted most at quarterback in the 2018 class with a Friday verbal from Top247 recruit Emory Jones.

Jones is headed to his “dream school.”

Ranked by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback, Jones chose to play for the Buckeyes over his other finalist Tennessee.

Commit No. 2 for Urban Meyer and company in the rising junior class, Jones was back in Columbus last weekend for Friday Night Lights where he was one of the stars on the field. The 6-foot-2, 193-pound Jones is a pass-first, athletic quarterback with the arm talent, accuracy and speed to be an extremely dynamic player at OSU.

But you can expect Jones to let his play do the talking.

Jones is a quiet kid. He’s always been that way. If you earn his trust, he’ll certainly chop it up, but he’s a cerebral, straight to the point kind of competitor. In person he’s a man of few words. It’s been that way since he was nine-years old and told his mother he would play college football. Several years after that Jones didn’t say much when he walked in the door at Franklin (Ga.) Heard County and won the starting job as a freshman.

“Who he feels like has his best interest, you can get all of him,” Trina Jones, Emory’s mother said. “He’s able to give you all of him.”

He’s ready to give his all to Ohio State.

Jones’s offer list also included Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Miami, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Penn State, South Carolina and Virginia Tech among others.

“They’ve been my dream school since I was growing up and Braxton Miller’s been my favorite quarterback,” Jones told 247Sports in the past. He is commit No. 2 for the Buckeyes in his class joining four-star running back Brian Snead who was also at Friday Night Lights. “I love the university here, I just love everything they have to offer me. I love Coach Meyer and I love Braxton Miller just by what he had done in their offense. It was just what I like.”

Jones will walk into a quarterback room in Columbus that could have Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins, Tate Martell and Danny Clark waiting for him.

“He never doubts he can outwork anybody,” the elder Jones said. “When he came into the (Heard County) program there were seniors in front of him and there were juniors. He would have been okay had he not got the position but he was going to work his butt off too.”

Jones led his team to the semifinals of the state tournament his ninth grade year, a Cinderella type run after they started the year 1-5. Jones won his teammates over with his ability to compete and make plays.

“We knew he was going to be special but we never had a quarterback with Emory’s tools,” Heard County coach Tim Barron said.

“He’s a humble kid, he’s not an arrogant beat my chest kid in any way. I think that has a lot to do with his mother being the lady she is keeping him grounded.”

In a balanced offense as a sophomore Jones threw for 1,213 yards and 14 touchdowns to only five interceptions in leading Heard County to an 8-4 record.

“He’s by far the biggest recruit we’ve,” Barron said. He’s got 22-years of experience. “He’s by far the biggest recruit I’ve been around. A lot of that has to do with the quarterback positon. Coaches recruit that positon a little different. It’s such an investment and they don’t want to miss on it and they all do their homework. We’ve had D-1s come through, linemen, running backs and skill kids but none have brought about as much interest as Emory Jones has.”

The buzz from Friday Night Lights and how well Jones performed quickly got back to Trina.

“I was like this is a kid, it doesn’t matter who he lines up with, he’s so humble yet he has so much confidence, and he trains and works hard and he’s self-motivated,” Jones said. “He always said I’m going to do this, I’m going to play college ball. I was like okay but it seemed so far off when he was nine-years old. Now he’s working to go beyond that.”

Jones remembers when her son didn’t have an offer at all. The quiet young man took it upon himself to send his film out to college coaches. For a while he didn’t hear back.

“Finally he got a call and when he got his first offer it started balling out of control,” she said.

Back in the spring it looked like Jones was headed to Tennessee. He always wanted to make that early commitment. Mississippi State, Georgia and the Vols were standing out. Then more opportunities came including Ohio State offering on May 11. A trip in June and then the one for Friday Night Lights made Jones comfortable with his decision.

“At this point, he’s ready to get focused and focus on his team,” Jones said. “He’s enjoyed building relationships with schools and talking to coaches week in and week out and develop some nice relationships with some folks but he needs to get focused.”

That’s something Jones has always been.