Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Felix Jones hasn’t carried a football for Arkansas since 2007, yet he still owns a school record that nobody’s been able to take from him.
Now he’s got another honor to set next to it.
The SEC announced Thursday that the former Razorbacks running back is part of the 2026 SEC Football Legends class, a group of 16 former standouts with one from every school in the league.
Jones is the pick for the Hogs, and he earned it two ways by running the ball and returning kicks.
He also did it without ever being the only good back on his own team, which says plenty about how much talent was packed into that backfield.
Jones played in Fayetteville from 2005-07 and ran for 2,956 yards in that stretch, which still ranks sixth on the Arkansas career list.
He scored 20 rushing touchdowns along the way.
Kick returns made him bigger problem
As good as he was out of the backfield, kick returns were where Jones gave the other side the most trouble.
He finished with more than 1,700 return yards, which puts him second in program history.
His kickoff-return average is still the best the Razorbacks have ever had, and it’s held up for almost two decades.
Most of the hardware came in 2007, when he was a consensus All-American as a kick returner and the SEC Special Teams Player of the Year.
He made All-SEC twice.
Defensive coordinators around the league probably don’t miss that group, because Jones lined up next to Darren McFadden and Peyton Hillis.
McFadden won the Doak Walker Award twice, so there weren’t a lot of leftover carries to go around.
There’s only one football, and Jones got his numbers anyway.
Six NFL seasons and class full of big names
All three backs went on to long NFL careers.
The Dallas Cowboys took Jones with the 22nd pick in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft, and he played six seasons in the league.
He ran for 2,912 yards as a pro, caught passes for 1,129 more and added 2,044 on returns while scoring 15 touchdowns.
That rushing total is 44 yards short of what he did in just three years with the Hogs.
The company he’ll keep in this class isn’t bad, either. The SEC says it includes Heisman Trophy winners, national champions and players from teams that won Super Bowls.
Two coaches are in it, Nick Saban of Alabama and Mark Richt of Georgia, and Jones isn’t the only running back. Oklahoma picked Billy Sims and Texas went with Ricky Williams.
Ole Miss chose linebacker Tony Bennett, while Mississippi State’s honoree is cornerback Darius Slay.
LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson and Kentucky wide receiver Randall Cobb are on the list, too.
Tennessee comes first, then Atlanta
Tennessee picked defensive tackle John Henderson, which is good timing because Arkansas hosts No. 15 Tennessee on Saturday at Razorback Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. on SEC Network.
It’s the first home game for the Razorbacks since they opened SEC road play at Texas A&M last weekend.
Jones’ trip comes later, when the class is honored Dec. 4-5 in Atlanta at what the SEC calls its “Weekend of Champions.”
The SEC Legends Celebration is Friday, Dec. 4, at the College Football Hall of Fame.
The group will be recognized the next day before the SEC Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which means the Hogs will be represented in Atlanta that weekend one way or another.
