photo by: Conner Becker/Journal-World

Lawrence High senior Brooks Jones unloads a pitch during a game vs. Olathe South on April 4, 2024, at the Olathe District Activities Center.

Brooks Jones’s second visit to Lincoln, Nebraska, went well. Having already visited Nebraska a year ago, the visit wasn’t an introduction to the school and the baseball team but rather a chance to confirm his feelings about the school.

Jones, a former Lawrence High School baseball player and current pitcher for the Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons, got the confirmation he needed about the university and committed to transfer to Nebraska following the spring NJCAA baseball season to play for the Cornhuskers.

Playing Division I baseball has always been Jones’s dream. As a junior in high school, he committed to Tulane before eventually deciding to decommit at the start of his senior year. Then, in May, Jones decided to go the junior college route, first playing for Hutchinson.

Jones embraced the junior college route but kept his eyes on playing at the Division I level. With his commitment secured, so are his top-level college pitching dreams.

“My goal was to be here for one year and find the place that fits,” Jones said. “I’m super excited that (a commitment) did happen (in the first year), and it’s definitely some weight off my shoulders.”

Nebraska’s coaching staff has been communicating with Jones for a while. He visited as a high school senior, but roster spots and scholarship money were already tied up for the 2024-25 season. Communication started up in September, and Jones took another visit on Tuesday. The trip to Lincoln solidified Jones’s decision, and he told the staff that he would commit before he left. It all worked itself out the second time around.

The facilities in Lincoln stood out to Jones on his visits. The school recently added a new weight room as part of a $165 million sports complex on campus that the football team will use. The baseball team will use the older weight room that the football team used to use, and all student-athletes will use some of the facilities in the new Osborne Legacy Complex.

“Nebraska football had some pretty nice facilities, so that was a pretty good weight room that we got,” Jones said.

Playing for Nebraska also means playing for coach Rob Childress, a longtime college coach and current pitching coach at Nebraska. Childress, who spent a previous stint with Nebraska from 1998 to 2005, helped the Cornhuskers have five of the school’s top six seasons in strikeouts. Childress has also coached 79 pitchers who went on to be drafted in MLB or sign with a team in free agency, according to his bio on Nebraska’s website.

“I’m excited to go there and pitch for one of the greatest,” Jones said.

In the meantime, Jones has the spring baseball season to continue growing on and off the field. Jones said he’s continuing to work on pitch placement and has the confidence to put any pitch where he wants. That and continuing to get bigger while maintaining as much athleticism as he can are his top priorities.

Jones and the Blue Dragons will start the NJCAA baseball season on February 12 against Eastern Oklahoma College. Hutchinson is coming off a 51-13 season in 2024 in which the Blue Dragons finished as the runner-up in the Region 6 tournament.

Nebraska finished the 2024 season 40-22 and won the Big Ten tournament. The Cornhuskers’ season ended in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament after losing to Florida.