The player at the center of college football conversations over the past week has yet to play a snap in a game.
Johnnie “DJ” Jones, a consensus four-star offensive tackle in the 2026 recruiting class, enrolled at Missouri on June 1.
Jones entered the national spotlight Saturday, Oct. 3, when an emotional Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz told ABC after Missouri’s 45-17 victory over then-undefeated, eighth-ranked Florida that Jones was at the forefront of the Tigers’ prayers.
Drinkwitz later revealed that routine medical testing after Jones enrolled at Missouri uncovered a heart condition that required the 6-6, 315-pound offensive lineman from Bradenton, Florida, to undergo a heart transplant.
By Thursday, Oct. 8, Drinkwitz announced on X that Jones had
received the emergency transplant.
“We are incredibly grateful for the medical team who cared for DJ and for the donor and donor family whose extraordinary gift made this possible.
“Please continue to keep DJ, and his family, the donor family, and his caregivers in your prayers as he begins the recovery process.”
How was DJ Jones’ condition discovered?
Drinkwitz explained the process to USA TODAY Sports.
“Our first conversations were when we did our first EKG (electrocardiogram) and our first heart exams were an echo,” Drinkwitz said.
Initially, there was hope the issue could be resolved quickly. Missouri arranged for Jones to undergo additional testing at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, roughly 250 miles from his hometown.
But the results prompted Drinkwitz and Tigers offensive line coach Brandon Jones to quickly fly to Florida.
“We were just hopeful that it was something that was easily resolvable,” Drinkwitz said. “And then when we sent him down to Mayo and didn't get the resolution that we wanted, you know, me and coach Jones flew down there in July right before we started fall camp.”
For a time, there was encouraging progress and hope that Jones might eventually return to the football field. That optimism, however, proved premature.
“We started feeling like there was progress,” Drinkwitz said. “He got discharged, was able to go home, you know, and even still there was hope for him that maybe you know there'd be a resolution and then be able to play again or something like that.
“And then last week we got a call that he's having to be readmitted and that he needed a heart transplant and that that he was going to have to get hooked up to an ECMO machine.”
Per the Mayo Clinic, an ECMO machine essentially takes over all heart functions.
Battling the emotional weight of the situation throughout the week, Drinkwitz revealed to USA TODAY Sports in the hours before Jones’ Wednesday surgery just how serious his condition had become.
“He was in heart failure,” Drinkwitz told USA TODAY Sports on the SEC’s Zoom teleconference. “So, been a really challenging thing to understand, you know, like [asking], ‘How does it go from a Division I athlete who played football and basketball in high school at a really high level to being, you know, nine months later in need of a miracle.”
All of this has unfolded during a demanding stretch for Missouri, beginning with its victory over Florida, continuing this week against preseason top-10 Texas A&M and concluding at No. 11 Ole Miss. Through it all, Drinkwitz and the Tigers have remained in constant contact with Jones.
“We actually FaceTimed with Johnnie (Tuesday) night,” Drinkwitz said. “Just, you know, our team and players texting and texting before and after our game on Saturday, and (Jones) thanked me for mentioning him [in the postgame interview].
“And so we're able to be in contact with the family. Our team doctor is actually there, and so doing all we can.”
Forty-eight hours before kickoff against the visiting Aggies, Drinkwitz closed his post on X with a message of gratitude.
“WE are so thankful for the incredible prayers and support from the entire Mizzou family,” Drinkwitz wrote. “We will continue to update you when we can.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How a routine test led Missouri's DJ Jones to an emergency heart transplant
