Loyal, empathetic and driven — three words that describe Jessica Jones’ rise at LSU volleyball.

Jones doesn’t need to say much for people to understand what drives her. Watch how she listens in a huddle, how she makes adjustments on the fly or how she speaks about her team, not herself, and the pattern becomes clear.

She was a freshman star last year, and now she’s in her second year as a student athlete with an engineering major. To navigate the tough landscape of college athletics, Jones carries those three words with her everywhere.

They aren’t just a reflection of who she wants to be — they’re the foundation of who she already is.

Importance of loyalty stems from family roots

Jones is loyal to the program, the legacy and the people who built her.

When Jones talks about loyalty, she doesn’t mean it in a shallow sense. It’s not just about showing up. It’s about belonging to something bigger.

“Being loyal to LSU and the program itself [is about] knowing that it’s bigger than just yourself,” she said. “You’re playing for everyone else that’s been through this program and everyone that will come through it. You’re trying to build a legacy.”

That mindset didn’t start in Baton Rouge — it began years ago, far from the roar of the PMAC, in the quiet of Nebraska deer country. Every Thanksgiving week, she and her dad would drive north for their hunting trip.

“She’d go to the deer stand with me,” her dad remembered. “She’d drive the truck on the back roads and learn how to handle things on her own. That was our fun time together.”

Those early mornings taught her patience, discipline and the value of earning what’s yours. They also reflected the deep family roots that ground her competitiveness. Her two older brothers, Trevor and Ryan, made sure of that.

“She’s always wanted to compete just as hard as they can,” her mom Alison said. “Nothing was going to hold her back.”

That relentless edge carried her from the softball field, her first sport, to the volleyball court, where she discovered her passion almost by accident. Her mom signed her up for a libero camp in Lincoln before seventh grade. The coaches took one look at the 6-foot newcomer and knew she wasn’t just another camper.

“She was the tallest libero in the group,” her mom laughed. “From there, everything took off.”

The quiet leader who listens with empathy

When her high school coach, U’iLani Womble of Wakeland High School in Frisco, Texas, describes Jones, she portrays her as a steady person on and off the court.

“Jessica is even-keeled, not super high, not ever low,” Womble said. “One of her greatest strengths is how she treats her teammates. She may be more talented or work a little differently, but she’s respectful of everybody. Her leadership is vocal, but never harsh.”

That balance shows up every day at LSU.

“Being empathetic is something you need as a teammate,” Jones said. “You have to be able to feel for and relate to your teammates, whether they’re having a tough day in practice or something bigger. It’s about being a good teammate, but also a good friend.”

This year’s roster includes new transfers and recruits, and Jones has become a bridge between the old and the new.

“We all gelled pretty fast,” she said. “You have that slight awkward stage at first, of course, but you get past it because we spend so much time together. Everyone fits in perfectly.”

That empathy carries through the grind of travel. LSU was on the road nearly all of September.

“We missed like 12 to 15 classes,” she said, but instead of wearing down, the team bonded through shared exhaustion and laughter.

“When you’re traveling, you’re stuck with each other,” she said, smiling. “We’ve had so many funny moments and inside jokes. It’s made us stronger.”

What keeps Jones driven

Jones’ drive has always been about more than stats. Compared to when she arrived at LSU two springs ago, Jones shows a difference in speed and physicality.

Her head coach noticed it too.

“Blocking wise, that’s been the biggest adjustment,” head coach Tonya Johnson said. “You can’t just try to bounce it into a big block. You have to dip into your toolbox, study the defense and find different shots.”

She’s made visible strides. Her consistency at the net continues to rise, and even when she isn’t racking up solo blocks, she’s thinking about the team behind her.

“As a blocker, your goal is to set up a good block so our defense can work around us,” she said. “Even if I’m not getting these huge stuff blocks, I’m helping the defense do their job.”

Her coach saw that same drive back in high school.

“She played on the freshman team for maybe a week and a half,” Womble said. “Then JV for two weeks. After that, we needed her on varsity. She always rises to the occasion.”

Jones’ work ethic spills over into the classroom. As a mechanical engineering major, balancing equations often means late nights after flights.

“Traveling hit everyone pretty hard academically,” she said. “You just have to stay disciplined. Communicate with professors, do extra work. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t tough.”

But Johnson thinks the biggest thing that helps Jones is her mentality.

“She has confidence in herself, and that goes a long way on this level,” she said. “You can just tell that by the way she walks and carries herself.”

It’s that mix of self-awareness and grit that’s defined her sophomore season.

“Instead of, ‘Oh my goodness, this is hard,’ it’s, ‘This is how it is,'” she said. “You just focus on the moment at hand.”

Jones’ growth and the legacy she wants to leave

A year ago, she was a freshman still finding her rhythm. Now, she feels her voice growing louder.

“Having that first season under my belt has helped me a lot,” Jones said. “You feel like you have more of a voice because you’ve been through it.”

She still carries the same mini-game mindset that LSU introduced last year — breaking long sets into races to five.

“It’s a reset mechanism,” she said. “If it’s 15-12, we say, let’s be the first to 20. We just gotta keep winning those little games within the game.”

And when she faces Texas in a few weeks, she’ll line up against the same program her younger self once idolized.

“When I was younger, I looked up to Brionne Butler,” she said. “I remember watching her at Texas and thinking, I could never play with those people… and now, we play them.”

A year later, those three words of loyal, empathetic and driven read less like goals and more like muscle memory. Jones shows loyalty in how she honors LSU’s name, empathy in how she leads her teammates and drive in how she balances the year-long grind with the rigors of pursuing a degree in engineering.

“You gotta have the attitude [and] do whatever it takes,” her dad said. He knows she’s always had the attitude to compete and succeed; now, she gets to put it on display at LSU.

Jones doesn’t have to say it. She lives it — one block, one class, one mini-game at a time.