The backup quarterback is an oft-beloved figure in college football; oftentimes he’s the fans’ choice when the slightest hiccup occurs to an offense.

Yet this is not an ordinary story of a sideline hero. This is about life’s paths, rushes in judgment and finding that the Rocky Mountains are not the same as being on Rocky Top.

In scarcely 48 hours, Sheriron Jones knew he had made a career-altering mistake as he transferred to the University of Colorado. Perhaps more importantly, the 19-year-old quarterback from Perris, Calif., had the character and fortitude to admit that he had acted in haste.

“I asked (Buffs) Coach (Mike) MacIntyre if I could come back the week before. I was there for two weeks, but the week I got there I felt like I needed to come back here after just a couple of days,” said Jones, a former Rivals four-star signal-caller who committed to then-Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian in January 2015. “It wasn’t the same at all. So I kind of waited, because you want to get used to the environment. But I knew in the back of my conscience that I wanted to come back to Tennessee.

“Basically I went through another couple days, and I just kept feeling it, like, ‘Man, I want to get back home. I want to play for Coach (Butch) Jones and Coach (Mike) DeBord and Coach (Tommy) Thigpen and Coach G (Robert Gillespie). I can’t do this, I need to go back.’ So I asked Coach MacIntyre again and he was kind of skeptical. But at the end of the day, he was OK with it and he was like if that’s what is going to make you happy.”

The end of that day culminated an agonizing couple weeks and brought full circle a difficult college transition for Jones, who had starred at Rancho Verde High School in the Moreno Valley just east of Los Angeles but battled conflicting emotions as he sat out a football season for the first time that he could recall.

“First of all, I just want to thank Coach Jones. I try to thank Coach Jones as much as I can, because I know he did not have to do that,” Jones said. “And my family appreciates it a lot. I mean, during the season I wasn’t as confident as I thought I was, and I kind of got discouraged. Going out there and making that decision, I feel like I made a fast and emotional decision. I’m just out of high school and I like to play football, have played football my whole life, and then I got redshirted. I thought it was good but I was also getting frustrated. I made that harsh decision and I talked to Coach Jones about it, and he just wanted to make me happy at the end of the day and I really appreciated it.

“But then I got there and it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t like my family who I signed to play with. I signed to play with John Kelly, Darrell Taylor, Austin Smith, Kahlil McKenzie, Preston Williams, those guys. I signed to play with those guys, and I feel like those are my brothers.”

The quarterback’s desire to play didn’t engulf his willingness to seek a return to Tennessee, proverbial chin-strap in hand.

“Once I gave, because they couldn’t contact me, Coach DeBord the call, I asked him, I said, ‘I just want to be a man about it. I want to know if I can come back,’” Jones told VolQuest.com. “He said he would have to check with Coach Jones and everything. All that type of stuff, he said I needed to talk to the people at Colorado first before I did anything. Besides that, I had to wait and see what happened. I called them maybe three times, and they kept telling me to talk to Colorado and I had to ask Coach MacIntyre if I could be released so I could come back home. Finally all that went through, but at the end of the day I feel like it made me stronger and showed the team that I really care about them. I spread nothing but positivity and I try to keep that a part of my life.”

DeBord already has seen a change in the young quarterback’s approach this offseason and opening week of spring camp.

“I think he really, you know, is growing in the offense,” DeBord said. “I think that he has gained more knowledge, like everybody, and I think skill development has helped him and I think being in the offense for a full year has helped him.”

Sheriron Jones also credited the close-knit nature of his relationships with both DeBord and Nick Sheridan, as well as a “big brother” in starting quarterback Josh Dobbs, with whom Jones traveled this week to California.

“I love it, because you don’t really see that often,” Jones said of his work with Dobbs. “A lot of times you see people just competing in everything, but Josh is like a big brother to me and I really appreciate it. Josh has done a great job with me.

“It’s been great (with DeBord), he’s been doing a great job making sure I know everything that I need to know to take command of the offense. He’s been doing a great job. I just really appreciate everything that he does. We like to joke around every once in a while, but he really makes sure the quarterbacks know what they’re doing and I respect him a lot. And me and Coach Sheridan, we get along really great. He likes to go over the things just like Josh does after practice to make sure I know what I’m doing and that way when I come into the meetings, I’m sharp and I’m prepared. We do a lot of work together.”

DeBord has tasked Jones to maximize his first spring camp.

“Growth, and maturity and continuing to learn the offense; he didn’t have the spring that Quinten (Dormady) had,” DeBord said. “So, he obviously is going through this procedure and learning everything. I just want him to improve and continue getting better as a quarterback.”

Jones made clear he wants the same; after nearly closing the Tennessee chapter of his life without ever taking a snap, Jones has focused on becoming a player his coaches and teammates know they can trust.

“It helped me grow up a little bit; every day you learn something new,” said the 6-foot-2, 208-pounder who just had his wisdom teeth removed two weeks before the onset of spring camp. “I feel like it helped me grow and I’m becoming a better young man.

“It would take one play for anybody to get hurt and someone else comes in. Especially at the quarterback position, you have to be sharp and you have to know what the defense is doing and what everybody is doing. You have to know what 22 people are doing on the field including yourself. I just try to do everything I can to be as sharp as I can, because if I’m not then they wouldn’t trust me to put me in the game. So I try to do everything that I can and watch the extra film that I can. Filling in shoes for Peyton (Manning) and everything like that, Tennessee produces quarterbacks, and that’s what we’re still trying to show.”

Moreover, Jones wants to show those who comprise the Vols’ “village” that he has committed to their brotherly bond.

“We call it our village, and basically it’s all of us taking care of one another and making sure no outside noise gets in between us,” he said. “And making sure we’re staying focused in everything. The older guys are my big brothers, like Cam Sutton and like Jalen Reeves-Maybin and especially Alvin Kamara. He plays a big role. I have had big brothers but nothing like this. Damore’Ea Stringfellow from Ole Miss, I went to high school with him and he’s like my big brother.

“But these guys here, it’s just like, ‘Wow! These guys take care of one another.’ And I really love it and love being around it. That’s why I’m so passionate on the sidelines, because I like to see my big brothers playing football.”

Just as everyone likes to see a backup quarterback’s success story, even if it’s more about life than football.