Philly's Homegrown: Derrick Jones

As the first Union player to ever complete the club’s Pathway to the Pros, Derrick Jones is a pioneer of sorts. Playing for Southwest Philadelphia-based Lone Star FC, Derrick candidly recalls “we barely had a field to play on.” He was a talented midfielder who let his play on the field do the talking and that propelled Jones’ journey through the Philadelphia Union academy, stopping at Bethlehem Steel FC (now Union II), and finally to the first team helped him hone the mental side of his game as much as anything else.

“I think I’m more like a calm player… I don’t really talk on the field. Being in the academy, they taught me that you have to talk to your teammates and use your voice on the…