SPRINGDALE — Jamie Jones doesn’t remember all that much about the last time he was in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

That’s surprising, considering the date was Dec. 3, 2005 — the date the former Springdale High standout helped put the final touches on the Bulldogs’ undefeated championship season with a 54-20 win over West Memphis.

Jones, who moved from Conway to Springdale before his junior year, played in the championship game but did so while suffering the effects of mononucleosis.

“I remember bits and pieces of the game,” Jones said. “I remember some of the game, and I remember the celebration afterward.

“After the clock hit zero, I just took a knee because I was exhausted.”

On Saturday, Jones will play his first football game in Arkansas since 2005, and he’ll do so at the site of his last one — War Memorial Stadium. Only this time Jones will do so as a special teams standout and backup linebacker for Mississippi State when the Bulldogs face Arkansas at 11:21 a.m..

It’s a return the redshirt sophomore has looked forward to for several years. He didn’t travel with Mississippi State for its game in Fayetteville two years ago as a redshirt freshman, but he will be on the field this time around. Jones’ return has had him scrambling for tickets this week.

“Family and friends (have been asking for tickets),” Jones said. “I’d say at least 40 or 50 people are trying to come.

“I’m working on them now, trying to get some more (tickets).”

Jones (6-foot, 235 pounds) has appeared in nine of Mississippi State’s 10 games so far this season, collecting six tackles and recovering two fumbles. Most of the action has come on special teams and as a backup at middle linebacker to the Bulldogs’ leading tackler, Jamar Chaney.

“He’s still a little bit raw, but he’s going to be a good player,” said Mississippi State defensive coordinator Carl Torbush. “He’s still young, which I like that. Great young man, got great work habits, got ideal size for a (middle) linebacker.”

It’s a role and learning process that Jones admits has frustrated him at times, but he understands better now in his third year of college football just how much patience is needed.

“It’s been a chance to learn,” Jones said. “It’s not easy, and at one point I got down because I really wanted to play. But right now, I’m just going to keep working.”

Jones showed that same patience when he transferred to Springdale during the summer of 2005. Jones knew the team he had just joined had finished 12-1 the season before and was filled with future Division-I talent, so even though he had been a standout as a sophomore in Conway, he did his best to fit in.

“He was just another part to that bunch that fell together,” said Dennis DeBusk, Springdale’s current interim coach who coached running backs in 2005. “The stars and moons aligned together, and he was one of those pieces.”

Before his senior year in 2006, Jones was expected to be Springdale’s primary running back and contributor on defense. However, a chest infection slowed him for the first half of the season. When he did return to full strength, he showed why colleges such as Mississippi State, Mississippi, Kansas and Kansas State were interested in him.

Jones finished with more than 800 yards rushing and helped Springdale win its final three games of the season, all the while not showing his frustration with his early season illness.

Jones got his first chance to play against Arkansas last season in Starkville, Miss. He called that day “like a big reunion,” after meeting and playing against former Springdale teammates and current Razorbacks Alex Tejada and Ben Cleveland.

Saturday, Jones expects the same reception when he meets his former teammates — only he’s hoping to come away with a win this time to keep the Bulldogs’ bowl hopes alive.