Yeah those rare guys like Jones get the way they are by going balls out all the time. They have to be cocky to think that they're going to outrun 10.5 D-1 monster athletes who have a 50-60 yard head start and score a touchdown. Like ISM before him too. You have to be slightly loony toons to be a good returner and I'll take 5 or 6 busted returns for a few field-flipping run backs every other game and a TD or two.
I've thought about the process before...to me it would be the most terrifying thing I could think of in sports...
The kickoff happens and you're on the 5 yd line, eyes on the ball instead of the ten 200 lb guys running 4.5 40s straight at you, trying to absolutely murder your ass because most of those guys want to make their team's starting defense. Can't look down to prepare yourself, you catch the ball, and then run straight into the teeth of that shit. Me? My instinct would tell me to catch the ball, and then I'd proceed to hit the deck in the tightest turtle-up you've ever seen in your life and pray to Nile Kinnick himself that I'd walk away from the car accident about to happen.
Yet these return guys somehow run, juke, and find blocks and make it 90 some yards to the house on occasion. Totally blows my mind. I would absolutely love to see a helmet cam video of one of Charlie's TD returns. Put that shit on IMAX with audio. It'd be terrifying.