CBS 58's Hometown Athlete: Marquette's Sean Jones ready to return to game action

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Marquette junior Sean Jones will be back in action this season after 18 months away from games. The first chance for fans to see him is at Marquette's recent open practice.

"As soon as we got out there, the ball tipped off, I just felt amazing," said Jones. "Just wanted to have fun with my guys in front of Marquette fans."

Jones tore his ACL against Butler on Jan. 10 in 2024, having surgery nine days later.

"You go through a bunch of individual workouts. Months of running, months of strength testing, months of leg testing," said Jones, speaking of the recovery process.

Jones returned to practice in December, but he never felt like himself. He decided this past January to miss the rest of the season and redshirt.

"To the naked eye, it looked like I was super ready, but there was a bunch of stuff I had to go through mentally. Trusting planting, jumping. There's a bunch of small things that goes into basketball that you can't really put into a workout unless you out there," said Jones. "That process was extremely tough; it was a mental war. But I trusted it like everybody told me to do."

One benefit? He was still able to grow as a player while on the sidelines.

"I've been able to watch a lot, a lot of tape," said Jones. "Still going through scouting, still being very intensive into what goes into winning in this game. Doing my part to make sure that we're ready and prepared. I feel like that carried me a lot."

Jones returns to the court as one of the oldest players on the team, but head coach Shaka Smart says he was already vocal last year while he couldn't play.

"His leadership has been awesome. He had the best voice, he had the loudest voice, but he wasn't quite ready to come back, and now having him back, it's terrific," said Smart. "We've done a lot of work together watching tape - point guard U with him and (freshman) Nigel James Jr. He's so excited to be out there and playing. There will be a real process to get reacclimated to what we do."

Fans can see Jones and Marquette again for an open practice on Oct. 4.