If prompted, Ronald Jones II can produce a bag containing a prodigious set of dreadlocks, which he keeps at his residence.
They are his — or used to be. He cut his hair this summer and couldn’t summon the will to discard the locks.
By the middle of USC’s season, he was glad they were still around. Jones was struggling, and no one could crack the puzzle. He looked a little impatient. His vision was off. But why? After one game, he suggested to reporters that it was the hair. Everyone laughed. Jones, it turned out, was not joking.