Signee QA: Jonathan Giles
Missouri City (Texas) Elkins star Jonathan Giles was one of six wide
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receivers signed as part of Texas Tech's2015 recruiting class. Giles played
quarterback throughout high school but will make the switch to pass catcher with
the hope of adding an explosive element to the Red Raiders' offense.
Giles is profiled below in the latest installment of our signee Q&A feature which we are running on all of the members of
the Red Raiders' 2015 signing
class.
TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF THAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE.
"Something that might surprise people that I do football-wise is going up and
catching the ball. A lot of people don't think I can do that because of my size
and height but when you watch film you can see that I have the athleticism to go
up and get the ball and do something after the catch."
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE CLASS IN SCHOOL? LEAST FAVORITE?
"My favorite class right now is probably Pre-Cal because I love dealing with
numbers. I think I'm very good at dealing with numbers, too. My least favorite
subject is probably English. It's a lot of reading books and stuff and it takes
a lot of time, and it is not really any fun."
Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?
"A giant duck over 100 mini-horses because I feel like I could hang and fight
with the best of them. It doesn't matter to me how big you are, how strong you
are, it doesn't matter. I like to take down the beast."
DO YOU HAVE A PREGAME RITUAL?
"My pregame ritual is to always eat a bag of Skittles. For pregame, I get two
handfuls of Skittles and I eat them. That's in the locker room, right before we
head out onto the field. It's a lot like Marshawn Lynch except I don't have them
on the sideline."
DO YOU HAVE A NICKNAME?
"They call me Super Mario."
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE MEAL?
"It is a tie on that one between Subway or Chipotle."
WHAT ARE THE MOST PLAYED SONGS ON YOUR ITUNES?
"The four most played songs on my iPod right now is Meek Mill, I love his music,
he is my favorite artist, number two is Lil Wayne, then three is Drake, then
four is Rick Ross."
WHEN DID YOU FIRST REALIZE THAT YOU HAD THE POTENTIAL TO BE A DIV. I
FOOTBALL PLAYER?
"Probably my freshman year because my middle school days I didn't take football
very seriously. Once I got to high school, I realized how good I was and my
coaches started seeing how good I was. Once I realized how good I could be and
how good I was, I decided to put my mindset on getting better and making it to a
Division I school."
WHAT'S THE MOST UNIQUE THING A COACH SAID OR DID DURING YOUR
RECRUITMENT?
"The most interesting thing was actually from coach (Kliff) Kingsbury. When I
was on my unofficial visit, it was one of my first times down there and one of
the things he told me -- this was the first time I have ever heard this from a
coach -- he told me that down here in Lubbock there is plenty of time to have
fun and they have fun and stuff, but there are other times when it is time to be
serious. I had never heard that from a coach before, usually the coaches are
always very serious and hard on you but these coaches were laid back and fun but
at the same time they took care of business. This is something that I had always
kept with me."
WHAT WAS THE ONE DETERMINING FACTOR IN YOUR DECISION TO BE A RED RAIDER?
"Just the fans, the city, and the people of Lubbock. When I went down there,
already Texas Tech was my dream school, so I know if they were to offer that's
where I wanted to go, but secondly the city. When we went down there, the people
were so welcoming. They welcomed my mom, my dad, my whole family. They were just
nice and stuff like that. The fans, the coaches and how cool they were and how
great of coaches they were. Once I took that all in, I knew I was home."
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT DURING THE PROCESS?
"My favorite moment was receiving all of those letters every day. I never would
have thought growing up that I would be playing football let alone receiving all
these letters from some of the top programs in the country. I still have them
all and that's something I really appreciated."
WHAT WAS THE WORST PART OF THE PROCESS?
"Probably the interviews. I'm a very shy person, and I like being in front of
the cameras and stuff like that or talking to the media. I wouldn't say I hate
it, but it is something I am going to have to get used to."
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR OFFICIAL VISIT TO TEXAS TECH?
"Probably just meeting all of the community members and getting to spend time
with the coaches and things like that. Then getting to try on the uniforms and
hang out with the players."
WHAT SCHOOL WOULD YOU HAVE CHOSEN IF YOU HADN'T SIGNED WITH THE RED
RAIDERS?
"If I wouldn't have signed with Texas Tech, I probably would have gone to
Houston."
WHAT DID YOU ALL EAT DURING KLIFF KINGSBURY'S IN-HOME VISIT WITH YOUR
FAMILY?
"The coaches didn't really stop by and sit down and eat. They just stopped by
for a short time to talk and stuff like that."
HAVE YOU MET ALL OF THE ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS TO ENROLL AT TEXAS TECH?
"Yes sir."
WHAT POSITION WILL YOU BE PLAYING AT TEXAS TECH?
"I'll be playing the Y position which is the inside slot position."
DO YOU EXPECT TO REDSHIRT THIS SEASON?
"No sir. I had talked to coach (Eric) Morris and coach (Mike) Jinks about it and
they said that they wanted me to come in right away and have an impact on the
team."
WHEN WILL YOU ARRIVE IN LUBBOCK FOR GOOD?
"June 6 is the report date. I'm going to arrive May 31 and that's for
orientation and to get checked into classes and stuff like that. Then I'll come
back and graduate from Elkins on June 6 and then I'll leave for Lubbock on June
7."